City says Duke Street changes have kept more traffic off neighborhood streets

City staff say that initial findings from a mitigation pilot along Duke Street earlier this year show the project was mostly successful in keeping traffic off neighborhood streets.

In a small update (page 10) prepared for the Traffic and Parking Board, city staff said initial findings showed the Duke Street Traffic Mitigation Pilot — which ran from January-April — mostly accomplished what it set out to do.

The pilot changed signal timing, adding green time on Duke Street and Quaker Lane from 4-6 p.m. to encourage drivers to stay on the arterial roads rather than cutting through neighborhood streets to get around traffic and access Telegraph Road.

“While staff is still waiting on data for April, the initial findings showed that 66% of traffic is staying on Quaker Lane (up from 39%),” the report said.

The staff report also said because of the positive results from Phase I, the city will start working next month to work on the implementation of Phase II of the pilot.

“Because we have received positive feedback from the community, staff will be working with them in August and September to discuss and design the Phase II pilot,” the report said, “which would include removing vehicle access from West Taylor Run Parkway to Telegraph Road. Should this pilot advance, this would come before the Board in September.”