1. The neighborhood Home Owners’ Association (HOA) or a group of neighbors submits their written petition to the County using the County’s Petition Form (see Appendix 1). The majority of residents within the area of concern must sign the petition (one signature per household). Signature page is not required if submitted by a legally recognized Home Owners’ Association.
The County will identify the project area then collect and analyze traffic data including: vehicle speeds, volumes, vehicle classification, street alignment and grade, functional classification, pedestrian activities, existing traffic control devices, and other physical features of the road. Data collection will only occur on weekdays, weather permitting.
While data collection is underway, the County may request enforcement and/or use of a speed awareness trailer to the appropriate agencies. Citizens can make requests directly to the Maryland State Police and Carroll County Sheriff’s Office for enforcement and the speed awareness trailer.
Results from the data collection effort may be forwarded to the Maryland State Police and the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office for their use.

2. Once the data is collected and analyzed, the County will determine if the data supports the petition for traffic calming using the criteria established in this policy. If the data does not meet the criteria, the County will report back to the neighborhood that the problem does not warrant any specific action.

If the data confirms that a problem exists, the County will continue with the traffic calming process.
3. The County will determine the priority ranking for the project, based on documented speed and volume data, presence of schools and sidewalks, and pedestrian generators. (Additional information on project ranking is provided in the next section.)

4. The County will meet with the neighborhood traffic committee to discuss the results of the data collection, the different aspects of traffic calming and the overall process.

5. Working with the neighborhood contact or traffic committee, the County will survey the neighborhood to confirm that two-thirds (2/3) of the affected property owners want the County to proceed with developing traffic calming measures. If two-thirds (2/3) approval is not achieved, the County may use education, enforcement and non-physical measures. If two-thirds (2/3) approval is received, the County will proceed with developing appropriate solutions.

6. Using the data that was collected and site surveys, the County will identify the appropriate traffic calming measures. Several options that focus on addressing the issues may be developed. The County will present these options to the neighborhood contact or traffic committee. The neighborhood contact or traffic committee and the County will work together to select the most appropriate traffic calming measure from the options presented. They will then determine if a public meeting with the neighborhood will be held.

7. The County will present the proposed solution and all applicable data to the neighborhood, and will conduct a second survey to confirm that two-thirds (2/3) of the affected households support the proposed solution. If the plan does not receive two-thirds (2/3) support, it will be considered withdrawn by the County and no further action will be taken. However, the County reserves the right to install traffic calming solutions to address documented, significant, safety problems directly attributable to excessive speeds, even if support is not received. If two-thirds (2/3) approval is received, the County will present the project to the Board of County Commissioners for final approval.

8. The County will proceed with final design based on the proposed solution, and will acquire any rights-of-way, if needed. County staff or a private contractor will construct the traffic calming measures, as funds are available. The County will oversee all construction.