SALISBURY — The Salisbury Transportation Department has opened a public comment period on the city’s new traffic calming policy, one which allows residents to petition the city for traffic safety measures such as speed humps, medians or traffic circles.

The public comment period will run through March 4 at 5 p.m., and both the policy and the feedback form can be found on the city website at salisburync.gov/Government/Transportation.

The policy outlines the process through which any residents can submit a city-maintained street for traffic calming measures. Residents would have to submit the request with a petition signed by at least 75 percent of the affected property owners, said incoming Transportation Director Jared Mathis.

After the request is received, transportation staff would study the “problem area,” including collection and analysis of traffic count data, speed data, crash data and the location of any proposed traffic calming devices. Mathis said that the study would typically take approximately 180 days.

Mathis noted that many streets in the city would not qualify for traffic calming. Only streets that fit the following criteria qualify:

• City-maintained two-lane road
• Classified as a thoroughfare
• Speed limit must be 35 mph or less
• The average speed during a one-hour period must be above 30 mph
• The average vehicle count must meet or exceed 100 vehicles
• Must be two years since the last application for the street
• Must be two years since any calming measures were implemented or removed on the street

If all of the requirements are met and the study finds that traffic calming measures are warranted, Mathis said that the street and proposed measure would be presented before the Salisbury City Council, who would have the final say on implementation.

Any presentation and recommendations would include information from both the transportation departments as well as the public safety departments such as the fire and police departments, said City Manager Jim Greene Jr.

“I remember in the past, with emergency vehicles, the concern that police and fire had with being able to get where they needed to go quick enough, so I know that’s an important consideration,” said Councilor Susan Kluttz.

Mathis also said that residents can donate private funding to the city if traffic calming measures are ruled warranted, which would speed up the process as the city would not have to find city dollars to fund the project. If private funding is donated, the transportation department still has to perform the study and the city council still has to approve the measures.

After any measures were implemented, the city would study the street for the next 12 to 18 months, including collecting the same data as before the project and performing surveys of nearby residents.

Mathis made sure to note that changes such as stop signs, traffic lights or other intersection controls were not considered traffic calming measures.

Feedback from the public comment period will be taken before the city council along with any proposed changes, at which point the policy will be officially voted on.