Do you live on a dangerous road? Here’s how to ask Sacramento County for speed bumps and more

The Sacramento County coroner has tracked more than 1,200 deaths in vehicle crashes since April 2020, and many of those deaths happened in unincorporated parts of the county.

Because speed is a major factor in whether a collision turns deadly, the Sacramento County Department of Transportation accepts requests from the public for infrastructure changes that slow traffic down and make neighborhoods safer.

In areas that do not have a local city government to maintain street infrastructure, residents can request that the county intervene by installing safety measures. (For speed lump requests within the city of Sacramento, you should start with a call to 311.)

Here’s how it works.

What can you ask for?

The county’s Department of Transportation is home to the Neighborhood Traffic Management Program, which can design relatively small “traffic-calming” projects that coax or force drivers to slow down. People can request certain interventions, including but not limited to the following:

▪ Speed bumps or speed tables

▪ Road narrowing, which tends to slow drivers down

▪ Traffic circles, which could slow drivers down at intersections

▪ Raised crosswalks, which increase pedestrian visibility and tend to slow drivers down

▪ Targeted CHP speed enforcement

▪ A radar speed trailer that informs drivers of their speed

▪ New speed signs

▪ New striping on the road

How do you ask the county to change a residential street?

The first step to getting the county to change your street is to contact 311. The request will be sent to staffers at the Department of Transportation, and they’ll determine whether the area meets the minimum requirements for consideration. If the request meets those requirements, the department will email or mail a petition for neighbors to sign.

The petition needs to have signatures from adults who live in at least 10 different households on the street. Then, one of the neighbors has to submit that petition to the Department of Transportation by scanning and emailing it or by mailing it back to the agency’s Traffic Engineering Section at 4100 Traffic Way, Sacramento, CA 95827.

How does the county review a request?

Staff from the Department of Transportation will conduct an investigation of the street.

They look at traffic problems, collect and analyze traffic data and figure out whether the street is eligible for an intervention and, if so, what kind of intervention.

Who foots the bill?

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors is in charge of funding for these projects. Usually once per year, the Department of Transportation will recommend certain projects to the board for approval.

How is it decided what will change on a street?

If the board approves funding for the project, then staffers from the Department of Transportation will make an initial traffic calming plan. They’ll check what kind of construction is possible given any physical or regulatory constraints.

Once a plan has been settled on, the department will send out survey cards to people in the area to gauge support for the proposal. They will work with residents to incorporate feedback into the plan. In the end, the goal is for the plan to be feasible and hopefully meet the needs (or most of the needs) of the people who live there.

Once the plan is done, how does construction work?

When the plan is finalized, staff from the Department of Transportation will go back to the Board of Supervisors to approve construction.

Then, the department seeks bids from construction companies.

When do you have to submit petitions?

Matt Robinson, a county spokesman, said there is not an annual deadline for these projects.

However, he said, the supervisors usually make initial decisions in May or June, and they approve construction the next year from February to March.

He suggested submitting your petition by the end of the calendar year so that the department has time to review it and ensure that the project has the chance to be considered in a May or June meeting.

How long will it take for you to see changes on your street?

It might take a while, although not that long in government time. The Department of Transportation says that if your project gets presented to the board and the board greenlights it, it usually takes about a year to plan and implement the changes. Construction usually happens in summer or fall.

This fiscal year, 19 projects have been approved by the Board of Supervisors.