William Matt
It is my pledge to always seek justice on behalf of the City of Lansing. As your neighbor, I will work diligently to find responsible solutions to our challenges, and lead with a vision guided by a hope of an ever-better city.
Friday, July 27, 2007
What's the deal with speed humps?
While knocking on doors, one of the most frequent comments I get from my neighbors in the 3rd Ward is how fast traffic travels on their street. It doesn't matter if they are on a major street, or a one block side street. Speeds of cars seem to be at an all time high everywhere, and what can we, and by we, I mean I, do about it, they ask.
Well, a couple years ago City Council did some MAJOR traffic calming projects, most evident on Mary Street, in Colonial Village, and on Moores River Drive. Some of these projects were done in conjuncture with the CSO projects, so as you can imagine, when the road is tore up anyway, it is cheaper and faster to istall traffic calming methods as they go along in the construction process.
The problems and complaints soon followed. Many people were opposed to lots of the devices that were installed. People in particular hated the traffic circles in intersections, followed by traffic islands, and curb extensions. Snow plows and emergency vehicles had trouble manuevering around the devices. They were expensive. In fact, virtually the entire traffic calming budget was used up, and we ran out of money doing just a few neighborhoods. To top it all off, the devices didn't seem to work. With public outcry, no money, and dubious results, City Council passed a moratorium on traffic calming projects while the Transportation Department did some more studying.
That brings us to where we are today. Most statistics show that speeds did in fact slow down around calming devices. Two things though are noted. One, people's perception of speed reductions were off. This means that we thought calming devices would work better than they do, so we were disappointed with the results. Secondly, in between speed calming devices, where many of the people live, traffic sped up again. In addition, we found that the most effective speed reduction devices were, drum roll please, the cheapest.
Speed Humps. These simple bulges in the pavement are the most cost effective and efficient use of dollars. Traffic circles, with their concrete curbs, brick inlays, and flower beds have a nice asthetic appeal, but are not very effective, and are outrageously expensive. Plus they are confusing for both drivers and pedestrians.
Tim Kaltenbach has mentioned the very same concern among his area residents that I had been hearing, speed on the residential streets. Both Tim and I serve on the Public Safety Committee, Chaired by Sandy Allen. We both felt that it was time to lift the moratorium on traffic calming. There are several reasons why this is the right decision at the right time. One, the Mayor publicly spoke about high speeds in Churchill just this week. Seeing is believing! Also, our Trasportaion Engineer Andy Kilpatrick was in our committee this week talking about a couple other projects. He had provided us with the statistic studies, before and after, from calming in neighborhoods, earlier this year. We have proof it works, and we can show what devices work best, and are most cost effective. There is also a little bit of money left for these projects, about $30,000 right now. With signs, traffic humps cost about $2,000 each. The traffic department also knows how best to communicate with the public what to expect. As Andy said, they "learned a lot" from the earlier projects. Finally, even if you, me, and our whole block wanted a couple speed humps and were willing to pay for them ourselves, through a special assessment of a couple hundred dollars each, with the moratorium on, we couldn't get it done. How crazy is that?
So in two weeks, Tim, Sandy, Andy and I will meet again and consider offering a motion to the full council lifting the moratorium on traffic calming. If all goes well, coming soon to a street near you, will be a couple little speed humps. Hopefully this will help neighbors feel that City Council is doing something positive for the residents we serve, and out number one complaint will go down a little.
Well, a couple years ago City Council did some MAJOR traffic calming projects, most evident on Mary Street, in Colonial Village, and on Moores River Drive. Some of these projects were done in conjuncture with the CSO projects, so as you can imagine, when the road is tore up anyway, it is cheaper and faster to istall traffic calming methods as they go along in the construction process.
The problems and complaints soon followed. Many people were opposed to lots of the devices that were installed. People in particular hated the traffic circles in intersections, followed by traffic islands, and curb extensions. Snow plows and emergency vehicles had trouble manuevering around the devices. They were expensive. In fact, virtually the entire traffic calming budget was used up, and we ran out of money doing just a few neighborhoods. To top it all off, the devices didn't seem to work. With public outcry, no money, and dubious results, City Council passed a moratorium on traffic calming projects while the Transportation Department did some more studying.
That brings us to where we are today. Most statistics show that speeds did in fact slow down around calming devices. Two things though are noted. One, people's perception of speed reductions were off. This means that we thought calming devices would work better than they do, so we were disappointed with the results. Secondly, in between speed calming devices, where many of the people live, traffic sped up again. In addition, we found that the most effective speed reduction devices were, drum roll please, the cheapest.
Speed Humps. These simple bulges in the pavement are the most cost effective and efficient use of dollars. Traffic circles, with their concrete curbs, brick inlays, and flower beds have a nice asthetic appeal, but are not very effective, and are outrageously expensive. Plus they are confusing for both drivers and pedestrians.
Tim Kaltenbach has mentioned the very same concern among his area residents that I had been hearing, speed on the residential streets. Both Tim and I serve on the Public Safety Committee, Chaired by Sandy Allen. We both felt that it was time to lift the moratorium on traffic calming. There are several reasons why this is the right decision at the right time. One, the Mayor publicly spoke about high speeds in Churchill just this week. Seeing is believing! Also, our Trasportaion Engineer Andy Kilpatrick was in our committee this week talking about a couple other projects. He had provided us with the statistic studies, before and after, from calming in neighborhoods, earlier this year. We have proof it works, and we can show what devices work best, and are most cost effective. There is also a little bit of money left for these projects, about $30,000 right now. With signs, traffic humps cost about $2,000 each. The traffic department also knows how best to communicate with the public what to expect. As Andy said, they "learned a lot" from the earlier projects. Finally, even if you, me, and our whole block wanted a couple speed humps and were willing to pay for them ourselves, through a special assessment of a couple hundred dollars each, with the moratorium on, we couldn't get it done. How crazy is that?
So in two weeks, Tim, Sandy, Andy and I will meet again and consider offering a motion to the full council lifting the moratorium on traffic calming. If all goes well, coming soon to a street near you, will be a couple little speed humps. Hopefully this will help neighbors feel that City Council is doing something positive for the residents we serve, and out number one complaint will go down a little.
Labels: speed humps, traffic, traffic calming, transportation
# posted by Bill Matt @ 10:39 PM 
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