What is Traffic Calming?

Traffic calming is a process involving community members and city staff to address safety needs on neighborhood streets.

What is a safe street?

The City of Harrisonburg considers safe streets as streets that facilitate all types of mobility and encourage appropriate vehicle speeds. The intended result of safe streets is a reduction of the risk of crashes, injuries, and fatalities involving drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists.

The 2025 Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program (NTCP) Guide has made various updates relating to:

  • Process
  • Community Effort
  • Thresholds & Criteria
  • Equity Considerations
  • Clarity about what warrants traffic calming

Specific changes include a new online traffic calming request form, transitioning to a more data-driven scoring system, expanding the criteria that determines traffic calming need, streamlining the number of steps required, and posting the scores of eligible requested streets each year.

 

Explore the 2025 NTCP Guide and Traffic Calming FAQs

 

Submit a Traffic Calming Request

Street requests submitted before October 1, 2025 will be processed and scored in the 2025 round. Street requests submitted after October 1, 2025 will be processed and scored in the 2026 round.

To request police radar, speed trailer, and/or enforcement of speeds on your street, please contact the Sgt. Wayne Westfall, Harrisonburg Police Department's Operations Division, at 540-434-4436 or Wayne.Westfall@harrisonburgva.gov.

Still have questions or wish to request Team Up to Slow Down Yard Signs? Contact James Polhamus, Public Works Transportation Planner at 540-434-5928 or email James.Polhamus@harrisonburgva.gov 

 

Previous Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program Efforts 

Sunset Heights Neighborhood

This section is for the Sunset Heights Neighborhood and will be updated with meeting summaries, maps, and information related to neighborhood traffic safety concerns and efforts to address them. 

Resources

Contact information:

Northeast Neighborhood

Proposed Intersection Safety Improvements

Public Works staff and the Transportation Safety and Advisory Commission have identified changes to improve safety at the intersections in the neighborhood, with a focus on those intersections that have had the most crashes over the last seven years. Information about the changes that have been completed and changes that are proposed can be found in this document:

English: Intersection Safety Changes 2022 [1.36MB]  

Spanish: Intersection Safety Changes 2022 [1.4MB]  

Arabic: Intersection Safety Changes 2022 [1.44MB]  

 

To ask questions or provide comments about the proposed changes, contact Jakob zumFelde, Public Works Planner, at 540-434-5928 or Jakob.zumFelde@harrisonburgva.gov.

 

This section is for the Northeast Neighborhood and will be updated with meeting summaries, maps, and information related to neighborhood traffic safety concerns and efforts to address them.

 

November 2021- Intersections Identified for Safety Improvements: 

January 28, 2020 City Council Agenda [105]  and Presentation [Video] - Neighborhood Enrollment

July 12, 2017 Meeting Summary [4MB] 

September 26, 2017 City Council Agenda [124KB] and Presentation [Video] - Traffic study request

Traffic Study Map, December 2017 [3MB] 

Traffic Study Results, December 2017 [3MB] 

 

Contact information:

Portland East Neighborhood

This section is for the Portland East Neighborhood and will be updated with meeting summaries, maps, and information related to neighborhood traffic safety concerns and efforts to address them.

Additional Resources

Contact information:

 

Related Pages