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Public works committee approves speed-hump projects after residents describe speeding and safety concerns
Summary
After testimony from neighborhood residents and DPW staff, the committee approved multiple traffic-calming measures including speed humps in several aldermanic districts; staff said most projects had majority support from aldermanic surveys or petitions.
The Milwaukee Public Works Committee approved a set of traffic-calming projects — largely asphalt speed humps — at multiple neighborhood locations following testimony from residents and explanations from Department of Public Works staff about petition and survey support.
Residents and block leaders described local speeding, school and daycare traffic, and nighttime cruising that they said endangered pedestrians and children. Corey Carpenter, a resident of North 40 Fifth Street, described repeated speeding and a pattern of what he called “cruising” on a side street and urged installation of an effective speed hump rather than a low-profile device.
Holly Rutenbeck of the Department of Public Works told the committee that asphalt speed humps are used on local streets to reduce vehicle speeds to about 15 miles per hour over the hump and 25 mph on the block overall, and that concrete speed tables are reserved for larger roadways with heavier truck traffic. She said the department has refined details over time and will replace speed humps at no cost to adjacent property owners if they do not meet allowable tolerances.
Petitions and aldermanic surveys accompanied multiple project requests: one speaker reported collecting signatures and said the petition had roughly the required support; staff confirmed several projects had the alderman’s support based on completed surveys. Committee members approved each project encountered on the agenda after public testimony; approvals were recorded by voice as "hearing no objections, so ordered." Several aldermen indicated they supported the projects after staff confirmed survey or petition support.
The measures approved covered blocks in at least the Fifth and Seventh aldermanic districts and other locations listed on the official public-notice files; specific block ranges and work descriptions were read into the record during each item. For one block, staff noted a submitted petition and at least 50% initial support among impacted property owners.
The committee’s approvals move the projects to construction scheduling and assessment billing steps; staff noted that property owners would receive bills after completion with an option to pay over ten years for assessments of $125 or more at an interest rate described in the assessment process.
Speakers quoted in this article spoke during the Public Works Committee meeting on July 2, 2005.
