Full Text of Proposed SECONDS COUNT! Ordinance

WHEREAS, to provide for the health, safety, and general well being of the people of the City of Boulder, it is necessary to avoid delay to medical, fire, and law enforcement emergency response, and

WHEREAS engineered traffic mitigation devices have been shown to delay emergency vehicles traversing them, and

WHEREAS alternatives to engineered traffic mitigation devices are available for enforcing compliance with posted speed limits, and

WHEREAS the risk imposed by delayed emergency response greatly exceeds that posed by vehicles violating posted speed limits,

THEREFORE BE IT ORDAINED THAT:

1. Section 2-2-11 B.R.C. 1981-Traffic Engineering shall be amended by adding the following subsection:

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this code, the city manager shall not construct, install, maintain, nor permit to be constructed, installed, or maintained, nor allow to remain in place after one year from the date of enactment of this subsection, upon any public street except a path or sidewalk, any traffic mitigation device or feature of a type hereinafter described:

(1) speed bumps; speed humps; speed dips; raised crosswalks; raised intersections; or any device or feature purposely constructed or installed in a driving lane with a height variation over any four-foot horizontal distance of more than one inch, excepting railroad grade crossings and slopes required by the general inclination of the roadbed, or necessary for surface drainage, or accommodating grade-separated crossings of waterways, utilities, sidewalks, paths, other public streets, or railroads; or

(2) traffic circles, unless the shortest line bisecting the rotary traffic island shall be at least fifty feet long.

For the purposes of interpreting this subsection, terms defined in Section 7-1-1 B.R.C. 1981 shall have the meanings given therein. Nothing in this subsection shall restrict the authority of the city manager to exceed the height variation limitation of this subsection where maintenance, repair, or construction activities are occurring.

2. Any registered elector of the City of Boulder shall have standing to enforce this ordinance.

3. If any part of this ordinance is determined by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unenforceable, such determination shall not affect the validity or enforceability of any other part of this ordinance.