Board approves expansion of Neighborhood Streets Program

For Immediate Release: Thursday, November 19, 2020

An expansion of the Neighborhood Streets Program (NSP) was approved by the Washington County Board of Commissioners on Nov. 17.

The NSP is a traffic-calming program designed to help reduce speeding and improving safety on neighborhood streets within the Urban Roads Maintenance District (URMD), which encompasses urban areas outside cities. The NSP expansion increases potential program eligibility by reducing the minimum speed threshold from 7 mph to 5 mph over the speed limit. The expansion also allows some “residential collectors” to be NSP eligible. These are roads that are classified as "collectors," which collect the traffic traveling between neighborhoods, but look and feel more like local streets.

Expanding the program is good for community, said Melissa Norman, NSP Coordinator and Transportation Engineer.

“The NSP has reduced speeding and improved safety on many County roads,” she said. “Thanks to the expansion, we will be able to help neighborhoods that have asked for help, but did not qualify in the past.”

The NSP traffic-calming options include lawn signs, speed trailers and a community-driven safety program to reduce speeding. To learn about the safety program, visit the NSP webpage or email [email protected].

Washington County is committed to planning, building and maintaining a great transportation system, ensuring the safety of all roadway users and operating the County roadway system in cost-effective and environmentally responsible manner.

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