Speed Hump Concerns

This email message to a city official is from our neighbor Beth who lives across the street. She outlined her complaints below and then we received a response to her comments from the principle engineer for the project. He will move the speed humps a couple of houses down the street but he defended the project as a safe and effective solution to people speeding on the streets of our neighborhood.

Megan,

Thank you very much for speaking with me this morning regarding the “Speed Humps” on Crescent Ave. and most specifically the one proposed for in front of our property at 363 Crescent.

Backstory for those of you on this email:

We received no notice or warning about this, my neighbor George from 366 Crescent came over Saturday afternoon (7/23) and told me what the pink lines meant. We had absolutely no idea. Why have we not received mailings about this, emails, etc.? How about meetings for those of us directly impacted?

I took the online survey and responded strongly opposed to the program, why was my response not even looked at if for no other reason than the placement of the speed hump. Put it in front of someone’s house who wanted the program.

While I understand that this program is meant as a positive to correct one issue – speeding (which is most likely not residents) it will affect us the longtime property owners in many more negative ways including: 

• Decrease the property value / make it more difficult to sell property with a speed hump in frontHe of the property (just having them on the street in general may negatively impact resale value of all properties)

• Noise associated with people hitting the hump
    – Daytime – will affect front porch sitting and overall quiet of the neighborhood
    – Nighttime, noise when people hit the hump, bedroom is at front of house with window directly across from the hump

• Damage over time/wear and tear on our vehicles driving over multiple of these 365 days a year to access our own properties will most certainly involve additional car repairs.  

-          Example: When turning right out of our driveway our right front wheel would hit it every time, this over time would most definitely affect alignment

-          Example: Extra wear and tear on all suspension parts and the vehicles themselves going over many of these daily

-          Example: Our son has an older manual transmission car and will be going over a minimum of 80 humps a week on his way to and from school & work just getting off and on our own street. That is roughly 4,160 times a year over the humps on his car alone. His is just one example in a household were 3 of us work, have cars, and have to come and go daily.

• Winter plowing and street navigation issues are bad enough now, how will the plows navigate the humps? What happens when they are damaged by the ploughs, the streets are not maintained now. How will these humps be maintained?

• We have a lot of people cycling on our street regularly including myself. The humps will make it far more dangerous for cyclists. 

Overall Comment: This program will dramatically decrease the quality of life for the residents on this street and neighborhood based on all of the above mentioned and more just to stop a few speeders. We are totally on the losing end of this program.

Common Sense Observation – The people that I see speeding thru the neighborhood do not live here. One trip down our street with the humps and they will find an alternate route. That will leave those of us living here, stuck with these humps, being negatively impacted daily on our own street while coming and going from our properties and the neighborhood we love.

A couple of General Questions:
• How long will the bumps be there? When will they be removed? What is the plan for that?
• Does the city have a vehicle repair fund for those of us affected daily by these humps and cannot select other driving routes to access our properties?
• How will you address noise issues?

• Will there be signs installed at all of the properties with the humps negatively impacting the look of this beautiful historic neighborhood?

Bottom line, we do not want the hump installed in front of our property (363 Crescent) period. I am cc’ing my next door neighbor Nicole Conroe (365 Crescent), and my neighbors George and Becky Emery (366 Crescent) who are also strongly opposed and want the hump moved as well. Nicole, George, and Becky feel free to reply with additional comments.

We look forward to hearing from you with regard to this issue.

Sincerely,

Beth Summers, 363 Crescent Ave. Buffalo NY, 14214
Cell: 716-572-8698
Email: bethwsummers@yahoo.com

NOTE: Dan at 356 Crescent mentioned he would not be opposed to having it moved in front of his house, but you would have to confirm that with him.

Good Morning, Beth - thanks for the inquiry and the number of comments. The intention of painting the proposed locations in advance of the work is to  get valuable feedback as you have provided. I have marked this proposed speed hump for a relocation in our mapping system, indicating the speed hump should be shifted south a house or two. Our field inspector will make sure to go to the site and confirm a new suitable location exists before work begins. 

The City initiated the Slow Streets program due to complaints all across the City of excessive speed on residential streets. Neighborhoods submitted applications formally requesting traffic calming and the City further surveyed the residents on the streets where the speed humps are located.  DPW has designed and installed the speed humps based on best practices across the country and we are confident that they will provide a safe and effective solution to excessive speed on residential streets.   

Take care now,

Alex

Alexander M. Bullers, P.E.
Principal Engineer, Division of Engineering
Department of Public Works, Parks & Streets

Office: (716) 851-4785