Take two: Waynesville residents get the win on speed bumps, again

“Some cars go flying by in excess of 40 miles an hour,” said Tom Duffy, who lives on East Street. “Every day we hear the screech of rubber as the walls of tires hit the curbs, only inches from where people could be walking on the sidewalk.”

East Street, which is used as a cut-through to avoid downtown, is not only narrow, but also hilly and curvy — making for a dangerous recipe of blind hills and blind curves.

“East Street is a roller coaster. You really can’t see what’s coming,” said resident Janet Kronberg.

Heeding residents’ concerns, the town conducted a traffic study on East Street earlier this year and concluded it met the criteria for speed bumps.

Residents were chagrined to learn last month, however, that the promised speed bumps were put on hold due to concerns from the fire department.

The fire department contended that speed bumps would slow down response time for emergency vehicles, so the town board sent the speed bumps back to the drawing board for another look.

“We thought we got the win. The neighbors were excited about it, and now it looks like it’s in jeopardy ” said Glenn Kavanaugh, an East Street resident. “I get it. I want them to get to a fire at my house really quick, too. But if speed bumps really cause that much trouble, they would outlaw them all across the country.”

Residents turned out at a town board meeting this week urging town leaders not to spike the traffic calming measures.

“My appeal is not to put it on hold but come up with a better solution such as speed tables, which would not force emergency vehicles to slow down so drastically,” Duffy said.

In turns out, that’s exactly what the town had in mind, as well. Later in the same meeting, a presentation on alternative traffic-calming devices recommended so-called speed tables in lieu of speed bumps.

Speed tables have a wide, flat top and can be taken at higher speeds than a traditional speed bump. While drivers don’t have to slow down as much with speed tables, drivers still get the point.

“They create a gentle, vertical rocking motion and encourage motorists to slow to a safe speed,” Waynesville Fire Chief Joey Webb said.

The speed tables will also have wheel cutouts so emergency vehicles cam straddle them, but a car with a regular axle couldn’t.

“Gaps allow vehicles with a wide wheelbase to avoid going over the hump and pass unimpeded,” Webb said.

Residents who had spoken out during the public comment period at the outset of the meeting cheered upon hearing the news. The alternative design was developed by an ad-hoc committee of Waynesville police and fire, public works and with the town’s contracted engineering firm J.M Teague Engineering.

In the last year, traffic on East Street has increased significantly, along with more aggressive driving, according to neighbors.

“It’s really getting bad. They are going so fast. Something bad is going to happen,” said resident Carol Brennan.

Traffic volume is poised to grow even more with a 54-unit townhome development and 115-home subdivision planned off of East Street.

“We worry what will happen to the traffic flow on East Street once the scores and scores of cars coming from the new housing complexes are completed,” Duffy said.