Traffic Engineering
This group provides traffic engineering design such as review of geometric design, signal design and signal timing, roadway lighting, signs, curb paint, traffic control devices, and roadway markings. Design also includes conducting safety studies and establishing safe routes to school, bus stop locations, load zones, and heavy haul routes.
Traffic engineering collects, processes, and provides data for many of the designs and decisions made within the group, and by other internal and external entities. This data includes traffic volume counts, intersection turning movement counts, collision records, signal and streetlight system information, sign inventory, and speed studies.
Access more information about traffic counts taken at specific locations within the City.
The traffic engineering section conducts and reviews traffic impact studies, such as the studies performed as part of environmental review in conjunction with new development. Operational and safety studies are also conducted within the group in support of tasks such as corridor and network planning, signal timing, speed limit modifications, sight distance evaluations, driveway locations, and detour routes.
Part of the information that is a key element to some of the studies and work done within this group is related to traffic incidents. This link provides information about traffic incidents within the City.
The traffic engineering group also provides assistance with the permit process, creating and approving traffic control plans for sewer work, new building construction, special events, site development and any other work that may impact the right-of-way. As part of this work, a key tool is the Traffic Control Handbook. An updated version of the Traffic Control Handbook is in the final approval stage, but in the meantime the current version includes instructions and plan templates required for permit review if work is being conducted in the right-of-way (ROW).
The following link will direct you to the right-of-way traffic library on the Tacoma Permits web page. This Library contains commonly used regulations that City of Tacoma right-of-way and traffic review is based upon.