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1. Can a "children at play" sign be installed in our neighborhood?

The City of Frisco does not install “Children At Play” signs. Almost every neighborhood in Frisco has a lot of children and the sign would technically need to be installed on every block of every street, which is not feasible (and would render the warning sign meaningless). It should be an assumption of every driver on any neighborhood street or alley that children live there and they should drive defensively.

2. Can a stop sign be installed on my residential street?

If you would like to request a stop sign, please call 972-292-5400 and ask to speak to a Traffic Engineer. We will conduct a traffic study at the intersection to determine if a stop sign is warranted based on national traffic engineering standards.

Please keep in mind that the City of Frisco does not install stop signs to control vehicle speed, which is also a national traffic engineering standard. Primarily this is because motorists subconsciously or consciously come to realize that’s the purpose of the stop sign and they begin to disregard it. They will begin to roll through the stop sign when no traffic is present and then that diminishes the authority of all stop signs in the neighborhood. In addition, motorists will often speed up in between these stop signs to make up the time they feel they have lost. All of this reduces the safety of the neighborhood. Instead, according to national traffic engineering standards, we only install stop signs when the intersection meets certain stop sign warrants based on traffic volumes, sight distance, etc.

3. Can speed bumps be installed on my residential street?

The City of Frisco does not allow speed bumps / humps to be installed on any public street. The Fire Department, the Police Department, and the Engineering Department have considered them in the past and discussed them with City Council and the city has decided not to use them. In short, they are a hindrance to emergency vehicles, cities have been held liable for damage caused by them, they do not always have the intended effect (because some people will speed up between them), and they are very divisive within neighborhoods. Some residents on a street will want them, but others will not, and residents of nearby streets will not want traffic diverted to their street. Studies have shown that for the humps to be effective, several must be installed on a street at a specific distance apart, which impacts more residents and further slows down emergency vehicles (it is estimated that each hump delays emergency vehicles 10 to 15 seconds).

4. Can parking be prohibited on my residential street?

Residential streets are designed to be a compromise between providing parking, allowing emergency access, and preventing traffic from driving too fast in front of homes. Residential streets need to be narrow to discourage people from speeding in front of people’s homes, yet they need to be wide enough to allow emergency vehicles to drive past cars that are parked on the street. It is important to note that residential streets are not intended to be wide enough to guarantee that traffic can flow in both directions at the same time.

The narrowest residential streets in Frisco are wide enough to have cars parked on both sides of the street and still provide a minimum of 10 feet between them (and more room is usually available when people have done a good job of parking). Passenger cars are 6 feet wide and fire trucks are 8 feet wide, so each can travel between the parked cars. Forcing cars to take turns traveling in each direction on a residential street is not considered to be a problem that needs to be corrected. In fact, this is a natural way to slow down traffic on a residential street (which people are often worried about).

Beyond the situations described above, it is not legal to park in front of a fire hydrant or too close to a crosswalk. If there are some cars that chronically park in these areas, we can observe the situation and post a No Parking sign if it is warranted.

5. What can be done about speeding on my residential street?

According to state law, the speed limit on residential streets is 30mph whether a sign is posted or not. Vehicle speeds are notoriously difficult for pedestrians to accurately guess, so we suggest you stand in your yard and have someone drive by at 30mph so you can see what a car driving the speed limit looks like. If you believe traffic is going faster than 30mph on your street, you can contact the Police Department at 972-292-6164 to request that they place their radar speed trailer on your street and/or conduct a directed patrol. You can also call 972-292-5400 and ask to speak to a Traffic Engineer and request that we conduct a speed study on your street.

The speed study will determine the actual speeds of cars throughout the day. Depending on the results, we can install additional 30 mph speed limit signs, increase the visibility of a pedestrian crossing, or we can ask the Police Department to conduct a directed patrol during times when speeding is occurring. We can also suggest an HOA education campaign (because it is typically the residents of your neighborhood who are speeding because they are so familiar with the streets). In rare cases where speeds are high, the city can allow the neighborhood to install and maintain a permanent radar speed board.

The City of Frisco does not install speed bumps or humps on public streets, nor do we install stop signs to control vehicle speed (see more detailed responses about these items elsewhere on this page). The city also does not lower the speed limit on individual residential streets; instead the city maintains a consistent residential speed limit across the city and in line with state law.

6. Can I request a lower speed limit on my residential street?

According to state law, the speed limit on residential streets is 30 mph whether a sign is posted or not. The city does not lower the speed limit on individual residential streets; instead the city maintains a consistent residential speed limit across the city and in line with state law.

7. What is the speed limit in my residential alley?

State law defines the speed limit in residential alleys as 15 mph.