Neighborhood Traffic Safety Program

Neighborhood Traffic Safety Program (NTSP) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The Neighborhood Traffic Safety Program is a comprehensive program designed specifically to protect the environment and quality of life in the Lee's Summit neighborhoods through the management and control of traffic on neighborhood streets. What makes this program unique is neighborhood participation. The residents and City staff work together to create a safe environment.

• To protect existing neighborhood environments, cohesion, and integrity through traffic management.
• Promote safe and comfortable travel in neighborhoods.
• Achieve effective and safe movement of traffic within neighborhoods (including emergency vehicles).
• Provide acceptable levels of accessibility for local traffic, minimize unwanted traffic, discourage excessive speeds, and encourage opportunities for alternate modes of travel.

The program is designed only for residential streets. It does not apply to high speed, high volume roads.

The process begins when an individual or organization submits a Neighborhood Traffic Safety Program request application to the City of Lee's Summit Public Works Department. The application is recorded by the City, checked within the limits of the program, and a boundary of potentially impacted properties is determined by staff. This impact area may be a single street or multiple streets surrounding the location of the perceived problem. Staff then provides the applicant an impact area map and petition. The applicant has three months to submit a petition signed by a majority of the residents within the impact area before any further study is completed. If the petition is unsuccessful another request may be submitted after a 12 month period.

For the Neighborhood Traffic Safety Program to be successful there must be good communication and overwhelming community support. The first step in the process requires community support by a majority petition to initiate further discussion and study. As in the first step, each subsequent step in the process will require community support. The second step in the process is communication between the City and the community through a neighborhood meeting. A meeting will be organized by the applicant, or neighborhood representative, to include: residents within the impact area, Public Works, Police and/or District Council Members. An overview of the progam, impact area, and traffic concern(s) will be discussed. In the third step a neighborhood traffic safety study will be completed by Public Works that addresses the neighborhood concern(s) and provides recommendations for improvement (if warranted). The outcome of this study may result in one or more of three actions: education, enforcement or engineering. After the study has been completed, a meeting between residents and public officials will be arranged to discuss the study, its recommendations, and implications. If the study recommends enforcement and/or engineering solutions, a poll of resident support will determine whether any action other than education is taken. If the study and community recommends enforcement by the establishment of a Neighborhood Traffic Safety Zone which results in increased traffic fines and/or any engineering initiatives, additional petitions showing community support will be required. Projects will be prioritized based on funding and ranking among other projects within the program. Following enforcement by ordinance, or engineering action; a post neighborhood traffic study will be completed after 12 months to determine the effectiveness of the recommendations. If another NTSP application is desired for the same road, 24 months from the last study must first pass.

• Neighborhood Meetings
• Message Boards
• Newsletter and Pamphlets
• City Website
• Radar Trailer

• Random Enforcement Areas
• Increased Enforcement
• Neighborhood Traffic Safety Zones

An engineering approach is the retrofitting of physical measures into the roadway to reduce traffic volume and/or traffic speeds. It is intended to be self enforcing. It is not route modification, traffic control or streetscape. The following is a list of common engineering approaches, or often referred to as traffic calming measures, within the Neighborhood Traffic Safety Program.
• Speed Humps, Cushions and Tables
• Traffic Circles
• Center Islands and Median Chokers

The City's Neighborhood Traffic Safety Program (NTSP) is a comprehensive program designed specifically to protect the environment and quality of life in Lee's Summit neighborhoods through the management and control of traffic on neighborhood streets. What makes this program unique is neighborhood participation. Residents and City staff work together to create a safe environment.
 

  • The NTSP program is designed for residential streets.
  • For the NTSP program to be successful, there must be good communication and overwhelming community support.
  • The NTSP process starts when a NTSP request application is submitted.

Past NTSP projects and traffic calming experiences in Lee's Summit are available in a recent Neighborhood Traffic Safety presentation.