Last year, area residents contacted the Public Works Department indicating that they were experiencing unusually high volumes of “cut-through” traffic on Reliez Valley Road, particularly during the morning peak, contributing significantly to longer wait times, longer queues, and illegal movements when dropping their children off at local schools. Residents speculated that the situation appeared to worsen due to the proliferation of GPS-driven turn-by-turn navigation apps, such as Waze or Google Maps. It appeared to them that the navigation apps were sending commuters from other communities through the Reliez Valley Road corridor, compounding the traffic congestion on the roadway. Meanwhile, staff became aware of a signal retiming program downstream on Taylor Boulevard that had been recently implemented by the City of Lafayette that may have contributed to additional cut-through traffic on Reliez Valley Road.   

Traffic Engineering staff subsequently collected data and observed that there was what appeared to be some cut through traffic on Reliez Valley Road during those morning peak traffic times, and specifically there appeared to be a slight reduction in travel time for road users headed south on Reliez Valley Road, instead of Taylor Boulevard, south of Grayson Road. After consultation with the Supervisors office, local city officials, and residents, it was determined that certain time limited turn restrictions should be implemented, on a limited basis as a pilot project in an effort to reduce cut through traffic on Reliez Valley Road. This pilot program is intended to be in effect for at least half the school year, but could then become “permanent” if found to be successful and not opposed by many local residents. During this trial basis, County Public Works will seek to measure and observe the relative effectiveness of the restrictions.