Traffic Speeds and Volumes Reduced on Tara Hill

City of Dublin staff are pleased to report the project positively affected both average traffic speeds and volumes along Tara Hill Drive. While City officials anticipated the drop in average speeds along Tara Hill Drive, the project’s affect on lowered traffic volumes is a pleasant surprise. This success reflects the hard work of both the Council and Task Force members dedicated to the issue.

The post traffic calming study focused on the same nine locations along Tara Hill Drive as the initial 2003 study that confirmed traffic calming measures were warranted. The studies captured several traffic measurements related to vehicle speeds and volumes.  Both studies were complete by the general traffic operations consultant, R.D. Zande & Associates.

Overall speeds have been reduced by approximately 10 percent at both ends of Tara Hill Drive.The 85th percentile speed dropped from more than 28 mph in 2003 to less than 26 mph on the western end (or Muirfield Drive side) of Tara Hill Drive. On the eastern end (or Coffman Road side), the 85th percentile speed dropped from nearly 33 mph in 2003 to under 30 mph following the traffic calming project. The highest 85th percentile speed in 2003 was approximately 35 mph. In 2007, the same location is down to 30 mph representing a 14 percent decrease in speed. The highest 85th percentile location is now at 31.4 mph, as shown below in Figure 1.

Traffic volumes have also been reduced. On the western end of Tara Hill Drive (near its intersection with Muirfield Drive), traffic volumes have dropped 24 percent when compared to the 2003 study. On the eastern end of Tara Hill Drive (near its intersection with Coffman Road), traffic volumes have been reduced 13 percent since 2003.

As shown in Figure 2 below, which was taken from the report by R.D. Zande & Associates, traffic volumes decreased the most at each end of Tara Hill Drive, but by a lesser amount in the middle. This is indicative of a reduction in cut through traffic; however, the volume of neighborhood generated traffic has not changed significantly.

The speed and volume studies were taken during a 24-hour period, measuring traffic coming from both the east and west. According to the report, the 2007 data indicate that the speed and cut through reductions are directly related to the traffic calming measures installed.

Staff has also reviewed other neighboring streets and in general, it appears that reduction in Tara Hill Drive cut-through volume has been redirected to roadways outside of the neighborhood. This was demonstrated by reviewing eight adjacent street locations, of which six are at or below pre-calming traffic volumes. At the remaining two locations, Adventure Drive west of Coffman Road and Sells Mill Drive west of Earlington Parkway, volumes have slightly increased. These increases are indicative of area traffic rerouting within the neighborhood. Both locations still have daily volumes less than 1,500 vehicles.

 

Tara Hill Project Four Years in the Making

Tara Hill Drive is not the longest street in Dublin or the widest. It’s not the straightest, nor the curviest — and there’s not even a real hill there.

But this summer and into the fall, Tara Hill Drive became unique in the city as the longest street in Dublin with traffic calming. With measures that include traffic circles, places where the curbs choke the street, landscaped island medians, and more highly visible crosswalks, City engineers think speeds will decrease — along with the number of injury accidents.

The final pavement was completed in November. Only aesthetics like landscaping remain in the $660,000 project. But the Tara Hill story begins in 2002 with residents asking City Council to do something to slow down cut-through traffic along the street. With an effort spearheaded by the Tara Hill Task Force — a group of neighborhood residents and two Council members — the City embarked on four years of traffic studies, 16 public meetings, an open house, five stakeholder meetings, six discussions before City Council, and development of 10 other concept plans before the final plan — known as Concept 11 — became a reality.

“We have worked diligently to get this project from the vision of our residents through the design phase to a completed project,” said Jeannie Willis, Assistant City Engineer. “We’ll study the effects on traffic and safety in 2007, but we believe this approach to traffic calming will result in improved safety for motorists and pedestrians.”

The process has not been without its challenges. Residents along Tara Hill Drive and the roads that feed into that street have had to be patient during a summer and fall of heavy construction. The City worked with the U.S. Postal Service to resolve issues involving the placement of mail boxes within the new design. And driving through the traffic circles has its own set of rules drivers will have to learn.

“The point was not to keep traffic from using Tara Hill Drive,” Willis said. “Indeed, the street was designed to be a collector street for traffic in surrounding neighborhoods, and continues to serve that purpose.”

Some drivers have expressed concerns about the impact the new design has had on their driving, Willis said.

“They have to drive more slowly now,” she said. “But that was the point — to increase safety by slowing traffic and redistributing some vehicles to other streets.”

Coincidently, the City also was performing sidewalk replacement work along Tara Hill Drive during the roadwork. The sidewalk work necessitated removing some street trees that were deemed to be unviable or a hazard. The removal was not part of the road construction, and the City plans to develop an appropriate street tree plan to get new growth started as soon as possible.

Sidewalk in a only section of the street without it — between the two places Fallen Timbers intersects Tara Hill — may be replaced in 2007, pending cooperation of homeowners there.

“We know this work has demanded patience on the part of residents who use Tara Hill,” Willis said. “Once the project is completed, we think the improved safety will be evidence of the project’s importance.

Tara Hill Traffic Calming

Tara Hill Area Traffic Calming Task Force

Traffic Calming Recommendations (5-24-05)

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Tara Hill Area Traffic Calming Task Force Summary of Recommendations to Council

The Task Force, through many discussions and public meetings, has made the following recommendations to Dublin City Council:

• Adopt traffic calming plan, Concept 11, for Tara Hill Drive, using horizontal traffic claming measures

• Consider the traffic calming plan for construction in 2006 or the earliest year possible

• Perform follow-up studies for the following streets: Adventure Drive, Roscommon Road, Sells Mill Drive, Shady Nelms Drive, Downpatrick Drive, and Tara Hill Drive

• Continue targeted enforcement on Tara Hill Drive until the traffic-calming project is complete

• Study improvements for the Avery-Muirfield Drive at Tullymore Drive and Avery Road intersection

• Redirect Post Road and install the southbound left on Avery-Muirfield Drive at Post Road concurrent with the traffic-calming project on Tara Hill Drive

• Monitor the intersection of Muirfield Drive at Sells Mill Drive for intersection improvements

• Evaluate the intersection of Coffman Road and Brand Road for intersection improvements at the earliest time possible

Tara Hill Area Traffic Calming Task Force

City Council has authorized the creation of the Tara Hill Area Traffic Calming Task Force. The Task Force will be comprised of ten (10) members: two members of City Council, two residents of Tara Hill Drive, and one representative from Hemingway Village, Shannon Park, Shannon Village, Indian Run Meadows, Dublinshire/Woods of Dublinshire, and Earlington Village/Villas of Earlington.

This task force will review and discuss the findings of the Stage 1 Traffic Calming Evaluation report, and consider the initial findings of the Stage 2 report. The members will coordinate meetings to provide information and report back to their respective subdivisions, provide input and assist in garnering consensus within the Study Area. The Study Area is bounded by Brand Road to the north, Post Road to the South, Coffman Road to the east and Muirfield Drive to the west. The ultimate goal of this group will be to create a comprehensive traffic-calming plan within the Study Area to be recommended to City Council for programming and implementation.

Mission Statement for the Tara Hill Area Traffic Calming Task Force

The Tara Hill Area Traffic Calming Task Force will develop a community endorsed traffic-calming plan for Tara Hill Drive and adjacent streets to reduce speed and non-local traffic volumes on Tara Hill Drive. The goals of the traffic-calming plan are to increase the safety of motorists and pedestrians, maintain the aesthetics of, accessibility to, property values of, emergency vehicle access to, and minimize undesired impacts to: Shannon Village, Shannon Park, Dublinshire, Earlington Village, Indian Run Meadows, and Hemingway Village. To achieve these goals, the Task Force will work closely with City Council and the residents in these neighborhoods to arrive at a solution.

• Increase safety

• Reduce speeds

• Reduce volumes

• Maintain aesthetics

• Maintain accessibility

• Maintain property values

• Maintain emergency vehicle access

• Minimize undesired impacts

 

2005 Meeting Schedule
		Agenda	Minutes	Summary
January 12	7 p.m.	view	view	view
February 2	7 p.m.	view	view	view
February 16	7 p.m.	view	view	view
March 9	7 p.m.	view	view	view
March 23	7 p.m.	view	view	view
April 13	7 p.m.	view	view	view
May 2	7 p.m.	Presentation to Dublin City Council
May 23	7 p.m.	view	view	view

 

2004 Meeting Schedule
		Agenda	Minutes
May 12	7 p.m.	view	view
June 16	7 p.m.	view	view
July 14	7 p.m.	view	view
July 28	7 p.m.	view	view
August 25	7 p.m.	view	view
September 8	7 p.m.	view	view
September 29	7 p.m.	view	view
October 13	7 p.m.	view	view
October 27	7 p.m.	view	view
November 17	7 p.m.	Open House	Open House
December 1	7 p.m.	view	view