We live in the foothills of Colorado Springs in a house built some 25 years ago. Access is via two main residential streets both designed and built when the city-wide speed limit was 35 MPH. They are wide with plenty of room for opposite driving lanes and parking on both sides. The parking lanes are rarely used and there are wide sidewalks and typically more than 50 feet of setback for houses.
Both streets now have "traffic calming" speed bumps and I want to know why.
Having grown up in Philadelphia where the street was narrower, the only thing between the houses and the curb was about 6 feet of sidewalk, and full sized city buses came by every 20 minutes I claim a right to be excused for my preconceived opinions.
I am told in an email from my district councilman that the bumps were placed in response to a request from affected citizens. The Gazette confirms, in print, that procedure and adds that neighbors are polled to assure at least a consensus.
Well, I was never polled. I suspect that a few hundred other neighbors who are a half mile up-hill from the bumps were also left out. We folks up the hill are now locked in with no way out that doesn't include alternate braking and acceleration or a 20 MPH effective limit for about a mile. (The limit, without becoming airborne, for my CJ5 Jeep is 10 MPH.)
Local roads in the neighborhood are much narrower than the ones that acquired the bumps. It is clear that the original developer built the larger roads to service then yet to be built homes further up the hillside. It is likely that such platting was required by the city as a condition for issuing building permits.
I want the whole notion of traffic calming made into a political issue. Others have complained about similar restrictions elsewhere in the city with round-abouts being regularly criticized. But no aspiring council members choose to bring it up at election time. My suggestion for Council elections coming up in April:
Your comments are welcome and might appear here depending on how I feel. Send them to Doug McNutt. Include "Jeep Traps" in the subject line to get by spam filters.