Windsor Terrace and Greenwood Heights residents are racing forward in their push to install speed bumps on several blocks that they claim lead-footed have turned into dangerous raceways.
Community Board 7’s transportation committee voted unanimously on Tuesday in favor of requests for traffic-calming lumps on 11th Avenue between Prospect Avenue and Sherman Street, Ocean Parkway between Caton Place and Kermit Place, 21st Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues, and Sixth Avenue between 21st and 22nd streets and 22nd and 23rd streets.
“Speed bumps are deterrents,” said Sam Sierra, chair of the committee. “When you go over it and mess up your car you’ll know next time not to come speeding down the block.”
The speed bumps are only the latest traffic-taming measure pushed by safety-minded Greenwoodsmen, who want to reduce the speed limit from 30 miles per hour to 20 miles per hour on a five-block stretch of Sixth Avenue without any stop signs or traffic lights.
“For whatever reasons folks think that its great to turn Sixth Avenue from 20th to 24th streets into a speedway even though you have to jam on the breaks to make the sharp turn at 24th Street,” said Aaron Brashear of Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights, who added that speed bumps won’t totally solve the problem, but are “better than nothing.”
Not all of the proposed speed bumps got the green light: the committee tabled discussion of a proposed speed bump on 21st Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues because residents of that block were not present at the meeting, and denied a suggested build-out on 18th Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues because opponents were worried about noise and the impact vehicles would have on the pipes below the street when they roll over the bump too fast.
But 18th Street residents say some kind of traffic-calming measure is necessary to keep pedestrians safe from motorists racing off of the Prospect Expressway.
“The cars come off the expressway and they just fly down the block,” said Theresa McDermott, who claims speeding drivers often knock the side-view mirrors off of parked cars along 18th Street. “I’m surprised those cars haven’t gone through a house by now.”
The Department of Transportation has already conducted separate studies for each of the proposed speed bumps and deemed them all “feasible,” according to CB7 district manager Jeremy Laufer, who added that the city is waiting to get formal support from the community before moving forward.
The speed bumps will go before the full CB7 board later this month.
Reach reporter Natalie Musumeci at nmusumeci@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4505. Follow her at twitter.com/souleddout.
