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Not everyone likes those 'calming' speed humps

By LORRIE LYKINS
Published January 7, 2007

We get lots of letters about speed humps. Most of them are from readers trying to figure out how to thwart speeders in their neighborhoods and they want to know how to take the first step in making their dreams of neighborhood traffic management speed humps a reality.

The Doc usually directs readers to the folks in the city's Traffic Management Department. Studies are conducted and if authorities decide that there's a call for a "traffic calming strategy" (that's traffic engineering-speak), the neighborhood must then be canvassed to determine the mood about speed humps. The majority of residents must support the proposed plan before anything happens. And this is not an overnight process; some traffic calming projects have taken a year or more from start to finish.

All this preamble to say that a recent anti-speed hump letter took me aback. The writer made an interesting point and since the Doc is always open to entertaining different perspectives, here's part of the reader's missive:

"For the past couple of years I have become increasingly frustrated with the overnight growth of speed bumps on popular 'pass-through' streets. In particular, I'm talking about those on 63rd Street and 69th Street in Seminole. In the past, these streets were great paths to take when increased traffic and slow signal lights would back things up on the main roads. I have to assume that the residents didn't like their streets being used as such so they petitioned the city/county to install the speed bumps. Those speed bumps certainly have served their purpose. Now you have to slow to 10 mph on a street whose speed limit is 30 mph! I'm back to using the slower main roads. I used to live on one of these pass-through streets - 66th Street - and I understand the frustration with traffic. My concern for the safety of my young children eventually inspired me to move to a cul de sac. If only I had known I could tell the city that I wanted to change the street that I moved onto to better serve my needs and without concern for the thousands of drivers who thought they might be able to use my street as an actual road.

"I think the real solution to this is to just do the same thing that these residents have done. If I can find someone who lives on Park Boulevard or Seminole Boulevard (or better yet - a major road that these same residents use as a pathway to their work) who shares my frustration with this situation, I would encourage him or her to petition the city in the same manner. Let's put 10 mph speed bumps the length of Seminole and Park boulevards. It's only fair. There are residents on these streets and I'm sure they're sick and tired of people driving up and down in front of their homes. If we can accomplish this, I'm sure the city/county would see the foolishness of what has been done and remove all of the speed bumps."

What do you think, readers? Is this another case of a few bad apples ruining it for the rest of us? Wouldn't it be nice if folks just observed posted speed limits, thereby eliminating the need for speed abatement?

* * *

Here's a reminder about activities in St. Petersburg in observance of Martin Luther King Day that will affect traffic downtown.

The annual Southern Christian Leadership Conference Festival of Bands will be held at Tropicana Field on Jan. 14. St. Petersburg police expect increased congestion around the Trop between 1 and 11 p.m. on Jan. 14 and again the morning of Jan. 15.

The Jan. 14 parade will assemble at Tropicana Field in the morning. At 1 p.m. the parade will head east to Martin Luther King Street, north to Central Avenue, east to Bayshore, then north to North Shore Park.

The route will closed to traffic from 12:30 to 5 p.m.

[Last modified January 7, 2007, 02:30:09]