City plans to slow traffic on Equestrian Trail

Residents on Equestrian Trail may be in for some relief from high-speed motorists who zip through the quiet neighborhood.

"We have a plan to install a temporary traffic circle (at Equestrian Trail and Appaloosa Drive)," said Kerry Wilcoxon, a traffic engineer with the city of Phoenix.

Residents got the ball rolling for a traffic-calming device by petitioning the city a year ago and then sending in a second petition after preliminary research.

Crews are now preparing to install a temporary traffic circle so that residents and motorists can try it out for three or four months to see if it actually accomplished the job of slowing traffic.

Wilcoxon said the city starts with a temporary traffic circle to see if there are any unintended consequences, like added traffic shifting to side streets, and to make sure it actually works.

Another reason, he said, was that before spending the $300,000 for a permanent traffic circle, city staff wants to make sure that the neighbors who will have to live with it actually like it.

But not all residents in the area are excited by the idea of a traffic circle slowing motorists. Some people on side streets fear that traffic will be pushed off Equestrian Trail and onto their streets, shifting the speeders and traffic from one street to another, and creating a problem where none now exists.

Wilcoxon said the temporary installation was scheduled to begin two weeks ago, but was put on hold pending the possibility of another neighborhood meeting to iron out differences between those who oppose a traffic circle and those who support one.

If the temporary traffic circle is installed, city staff will monitor the area for at least three months, and probably longer, said Wilcoxon, because the slow summer months isn't the best time to study the impact on traffic.

Then, he said, a third petition will be circulated among local residents before a decision is made to make the traffic circle permanent.

The $10 million collector street mitigation program is part of the 2006 bond program approved by voters. The goal is to enhance the quality of life of people who live on collector streets, like Equestrian Trail, which funnel traffic from neighborhoods to major arterial streets like the Warner/Elliot Loop.