I local Traffic Engineering : Where Are We ?

M ost local governments in the United States manage and maintain streets and roads as part of their everyday duties. How well are local governments handling their responsibilities with respect to nationally accepted traffic engineering procedures and standards? To find out how local agencies in Tennessee were doing, a survey of every city and county in the state was conducted during the fall of 1987. Tennessee is representative of many states, so the results may be applicable to other states as well. The survey had four basic objectives. First, we wanted to find out who make decisions on traffic control at the local level in Tennessee. Second, we were curious how others responsible for local traffic control were handling routine traffic engineering duties, such as signing and striping. Third, we wanted to find out to what extent traffic engineering tools such as accident record systems were being utilized. Finally, we wanted to determine the usage of common unorthodox traffic control devices, such as speed bumps and Children at Play signs. The article summarizes the results of our survey. The results showed that some of the smaller cities and counties have problems. Many small local governments do