Bel Air commissioners to put disputed Broadway/Shamrock speed hump to a public vote after lengthy policy fight

Bel Air commissioners agreed Aug. 26 to place the contested speed-hump installation at the Broadway and Shamrock intersection on the agenda of a September town meeting for a formal vote, after residents, staff and commissioners spent more than two hours debating whether the town's Neighborhood Traffic Management Program (NTMP) justified the device.

The NTMP scoring worksheet assembled by town staff showed the location scored 32 points; the program requires 50 points for a Level 2 traffic-calming measure such as a speed hump. Staff and police data cited a peak-period traffic count of 211 vehicles, an 85th-percentile speed at about 31'0-32 mph on a 25 mph posted limit, and a calculated non-local (cut-through) share of about 18.9 percent — all figures below the NTMP thresholds for the device.

Why it matters: commissioners and residents framed the dispute as both a technical-policy question and a residents'promise question. Residents who collected a petition with two-thirds support expected the town to install the hump; staff acknowledged the petition but also acknowledged the NTMP score did not meet the numeric threshold. The episode prompted commissioners to say the town must clarify the NTMP procedures and how staff uses…