KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — The City of Kalamazoo is exploring options cheaper than speed bumps to help reduce reckless driving, MLive reported Wednesday.
In the last few weeks, the City has received several complaints regarding speeding vehicles, according to Vice Mayor Patrese Griffin.
“While we have to wait for policy solutions, if somebody’s child gets hit by a car tomorrow, that’s too late,” Griffin said in a meeting earlier this month. “We’re having great conversations with Director James Baker on that.”
Griffin touched on the subject again at a meeting this week.
“For some reason, people choose to treat residential streets like the drag strip,” Vice Mayor Griffin said. “We are experiencing this on all sides of town.”
Griffin says that some Northside residents have put up barriers to slow traffic down ahead of any new policies or installments.
“My neighbors took it upon themselves to put up a barrier,” Griffin said. “I live near LaCrone Park, there was a huge event the other weekend, where there were tons of people here for a Stop the Violence rally. Nobody disrespected that, nobody knocked it down, and everyone slowed down. I just want to offer that to people while we’re in this in-between stage. You do have power within this space while we’re trying to work that out.”
Griffin is inviting the public to contact her with any concerns about speeding traffic or related measures.
However, according to MLive, the City may be making some headway on curbing speeding drivers.
Public Services Director James Baker told MLive that the city will be demonstrating an installment of a chicane, or “Bump-out” in the City later this month.
Chicanes are used to create a physical barrier in the street that extends from the curb that drivers must slow down for. Baker told MLive that a chicane is cheaper to install than a speed bump, costing around $1,500 to $3,000 compared to $15,000 on average.
A demonstration has been planned to explain to the public how a chicane works in practice. On Thursday, July 30, an event will be held at LaCrone Park on Patterson Street from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., with presentations happening every half hour.
During this process, data on speed and other driving factors will be recorded and analyzed by the city to determine if they are effective in slowing traffic or not, especially when compared to current data.
These figures will be used to find out whether the project will need to be improved in the coming months.
