As part of a review on traffic calming policy, the Engineering Department and Office of Neighborhoods have hosted a series of meetings to hear citizens' views on the best ways to control speeding on residential streets.

The next meeting, to be held in Northwest Knoxville, will take place at 6 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 14th, at Northwest Middle School, 5301 Pleasant Ridge Road. A meeting for East Knoxville/Center City will be held at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22nd, at John T. O'Connor Senior Center, 611 Winona St.

Utilizing the public input, budget constraints and other factors, City staff will formulate a draft policy and publish it for citizen review and a follow-up public meeting in the first quarter of 2014. Members of City Council will also be asked to weigh in before a final policy is presented for City Council's endorsement. It is anticipated that implementation of the new policy would begin during the second quarter of next year.

Currently the City's traffic calming measures include police surveillance and ticketing of speeders on eligible streets on a rotating basis throughout the year, in some cases lowering the residential speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph, and installation of new speed limit signs and rumble strips at the entrance to neighborhoods. Any city neighborhood organization or Knoxville citizen can call 311 to request a review of a particular street for consideration of these measures.

Beyond these measures, citizens often ask for speed humps and other physical devices. For a variety of reasons, the City discontinued installation of physical devices several years ago. Whether to resume the use of physical devices is one of the key questions to be addressed in the policy review.