Nearly a decade ago, Esther Schrader was determined to find a way to allow her neighbors to enjoy their backyards.
“It was abominable, during the nice weather you couldn’t do anything outside, barbecue or whatever. You couldn’t hear yourself think,” Schrader said.
The sounds of trucks and cars whizzing past was deafening, she said.
So, Schrader set out to make a difference. With the help of the Neighborhood Traffic Safety Alliance, a citizen-led group that partners with the city of Vancouver, she succeeded.
First, she organized the 215 residences into an official neighborhood, the Northfield neighborhood.
The next step was to consider what could drown out the noise. There wasn’t enough room for planting trees, and a fence or wall would jam up the sidewalk.
Instead, the group worked with the city to add bike lanes, which pushed the traffic farther away from the homes. Second, they designed wavy, gradual bumps to the road that served to slow the traffic down.
It worked.
“Oh my goodness, that made so much of a difference here,” she said. Adding later, “We just wanted to get rid of the noise.”
Since the success, Schrader has been involved with the program that helps empower neighborhoods to control the sounds of traffic preventing them from fully enjoying their homes. During the recession, the city of Vancouver’s Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program took a bit of a hiatus. But now it’s back.
In 2016, it funded four projects throughout the city. There were new ladder-style crosswalks placed in intersections, centerline stripes added to better define travel lanes, and speed cushions are in the works to help slow traffic along Northeast 51st Street.
In previous years, they’ve painted colorful murals with the hopes of inspiring drivers to reduce their speeds. They also add signs when needed and use radar feedback signs, letting motorists know how fast they are driving on a particular street.
The funding for all the projects come from the city’s neighborhood traffic calming programs and a real estate excise tax (REET) revenues.
Jennifer Campos, a senior planner with the community and economic development department in the city of Vancouver, said the city saw a record number of requested projects last year that met all the threshold requirements.
“There was an estimated $530,000 in requests,” she said. “It’s more than we had funding for, but, yeah, a huge ramp up in project need. It’s people being more aware and realizing there are options available to address their concerns.”
Ross Montgomery, who is the chair of the Neighborhood Traffic Safety Alliance, said the program has been an empowering tool for neighborhoods.
“It’s like neighborhood watch where citizens volunteer their time to make Vancouver safer,” he said, “This is along the same lines.”
Only to make Vancouver a little bit slower.
