Neighborhood Speed Management Program

What is the NSMP?

The city's Neighborhood Speed Management Program (NSMP) implements engineering, education and enforcement to slow speeding traffic on residential streets. 

Preliminary Project Lists from the 2018 Application Cycle

On October 8, 2018, staff presented preliminary ranked complex and simple project lists to the Transportation Advisory Board (TAB). These project applications were submitted to city staff between October 2017 and April 27, 2018. Staff is proposing planning at least two complex projects in 2019 to be implemented in 2020, and implementing all six simple speed hump projects in 2019.

On December 10, TAB will hold a public hearing for applicants and residents to speak about individual projects. Following the public hearing and a staff presentation, TAB will make a recommendation on finalizing the lists of complex and simple projects and moving forward with planning and development for individual project locations.

How to Apply

City staff accepts NSMP applications year-round and evaluates them on an annual basis. The next deadline for application evaluation is May 3, 2019. Please use the links on the upper right-hand corner of the page to access the online application and neighborhood petition.

Here are a few key pointers:

• Only residential and collector streets are eligible for participation in the program.  Eligible streets are in black and blue on the City of Boulder Street Classifications map.

• All applications requesting engineering treatments (such as speed humps and traffic circles) must include a neighborhood petition with signatures from 20 neighbors or 30 percent of households on the same block, whichever is less.

• Staff will review and rank applications requesting engineering treatments based on the criteria laid out in the NSMP final guidelines . All applicants will be notified of the ranking. Staff will then present a list of prioritized projects to the Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) for review.

• Projects with engineering treatments will be categorized as "simple" or "complex."

  • Simple projects are those that are expected to have a localized impact on reducing speeds, address speeding issues on a short segment of a non-critical emergency response route and have little effect on traffic diversion. They are also anticipated to cost less than or around $10,000. Simple projects will be implemented by staff after a recommendation by the Transportation Advisory Board.

  • Complex projects may include impacts to neighboring streets or other travel modes, be located on a designated critical emergency response route and cost more than $10,000. Complex projects must receive a recommendation to proceed from the Transportation Advisory Board and must also be approved by City Council.

• All applicants are eligible to receive educational materials and enforcement in their neighborhood.

You can read the final guidelines  and review public feedback  about the guidelines from the June TAB meeting. You can also view higher resolution versions of the Critical Emergency Response Routes  (Attachment A) and City of Boulder Street Classifications map (Attachment B).

You can also sign up for NSMP Email Alerts.

Application Status

• If you submitted an application by Nov. 24, 2017, and staff categorized your project as a simple project, your application has been reviewed and the evaluation completed. Staff has installed most of the approved projects and will complete all projects by mid-2019. 

• If you submitted an application by Nov. 24, 2017, and staff categorized your project as a complex project, your application is currently being evaluated with applications submitted before the April 27, 2018 deadline. Staff will present a preliminary ranked list of complex projects to the Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) on December 10, 2018. There will be a public hearing during the TAB meeting during which applicants and residents can speak about the proposed complex project locations. After the public hearing and staff presentation, TAB will make a recommendation on finalizing the project list. 

• If you submitted an application by April 27, 2018, your application is currently being evaluated. Staff will present two preliminary ranked lists of complex and simple projects to the Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) on December 10, 2018. There will be a public hearing during the TAB meeting during which applicants and residents can speak about the proposed complex and simple project locations. After the public hearing and staff presentation, TAB will make a recommendation on finalizing the two project lists. 

• If you submitted an application after April 27, 2018, staff will evaluate your application beginning in May 2019. 

2018 Speed Hump Projects

Twelve projects were considered for implementation in 2018. To view the projects and how they were selected for consideration, see the neighborhood forum meeting materials .

Staff held two neighborhood forums on May 24 and 29 for residents to discuss 12 simple project proposals with staff. Staff also presented traffic calming concepts and neighborhood feedback to the Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) at a public hearing on June 11.

Based on neighborhood feedback, TAB made a recommendation to move forward with 11 projects and asked for a new petition for the project proposed for Augusta Drive. Additionally, the speed hump on Edinboro Drive has been postponed based on neighborhood feedback. The 2018 NSMP project map shows the 10 current project locations.