BEL AIR, Md. — A speed hump for a portion of East Broadway in Bel Air.
Most residents say it’s a no brainer.
“A lot of people going very fast and a lot more cars than we’ve had over the years,” said Denise Sennett, “We’ve been here for 38 years.”
Supporters say the town provided them with a petition to circulate in the neighborhood and 81 percent approved of it.
Leadership in Bel Air will soon decide the fate of a speed hump project
“We went all the way through all their stages,” said Keri Lowery, “They funded it. They mapped out where it’s going. They engineered it, and it was down to the day of installation.”
That’s when the proposed speed hump hit a statistical bump that now threatens the project.
Traffic safety figures from the police department covering a five-day span two years ago.
Paula Etting serves as the town’s mayor.
“The data that was collected during the traffic study does not show that there is a speed problem,” said Etting, “85 percent of the cars are traveling at a speed of 31 miles per hour or less.”
But the speed limit is just 25 miles per hour, and supporters say that same study shows more than 33 hundred of those vehicles exceeded the limit by six miles per hour or more---roughly one every two minutes.
The county even put in a series of speed humps more than a decade ago on that same street, but they stop at the town limits.
“Once they hit that final speed hump, they zoom up over the hill,” said Lowery, “They can’t see, More volume. Higher speeds. They can’t stop, and that’s really scary.”
They are persuasive arguments, which have had little effect on the mayor.
“We have to apply the rules to every neighborhood,” said Etting, “but they were certainly treated very poorly in being told if they got all those signatures that then they would get their speed hump and I apologize to them on behalf of the town. It was terrible.”
Despite the mayor’s opposition, the fate of the project remains unknown for now.
That will be up to the Board of Town Commissioners.
Five elected leaders divided over ignoring the criteria for adding a speed hump or their constituents over a bid to make their street safer.
