Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Traffic Calming topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Springfield keeps speed cushions on Centennial after pilot cuts speeds; council asks for more data
Summary
City staff told council the Centennial Boulevard temporary speed‑cushion pilot reduced average speeds from 34 to 25 mph and cut traffic volumes on Centennial by roughly 23–25%; council asked staff for more distribution data and agreed to keep the cushions in place while evaluating downstream impacts to nearby local streets.
A Springfield City Council work session on the Centennial Boulevard traffic‑calming pilot ended with council directing staff to keep the temporary speed cushions in place and return with more analysis and a briefing memo.
Transportation planning engineer Michael Liebler told council the before/after study found the corridor’s average speed fell from 34 miles per hour before the pilot to 25 miles per hour after, and the 80th‑percentile speed dropped from about 37 mph to about 30 mph. “In the after condition, after the calming, the average speed was found to be 25 miles per hour with an 80th‑percentile speed of 30 miles per hour,” Liebler said.
Staff also reported shifts in traffic volumes. Liebler said Centennial weekday volumes fell from about 7,500 to about 5,800 vehicles, a roughly 23–25% drop, while adjacent J Street experienced a weekday increase of about 21–23% and larger relative increases near the elementary school. “So definitely a reduction in volume on Centennial,” Liebler said, and he cautioned that increases on low‑volume local streets can look large in percentage terms even when absolute vehicle counts are modest.
Brian Common, who introduced the item, said the project grew from neighborhood complaints and a 2022 petition submitted by “approximately 80 plus residents” requesting a speed reduction along the corridor. Common described the pilot as a temporary, rapid‑deployment approach intended to give staff and council data to inform longer‑term decisions.
Councilors asked technical questions about damage complaints, vehicle types, and alternatives. Deputy police leadership said enforcement alone is difficult to sustain and that speed‑feedback signs reduce speeds but tend to lose effectiveness over time without enforcement. “Speed signs… do provide some speed reduction. It’s not as aggressive of a speed reduction, and it doesn’t have the same long‑term effectiveness if there isn’t a backup of enforcement,” staff said.
Councilor Coria Blackwell raised safety concerns about traffic shifting onto J Street near an elementary school: “I do have a concern when I read through the information about the added traffic on J Street, especially around the elementary school where there's kids walking.” Staff responded that some trips transferring from Centennial were through trips while others were local, and noted counts in front of the school showed weekday percentage increases that merit further attention.
On balance, council members signaled they wanted to leave the temporary cushions in place and continue gathering feedback and analytics before committing to permanent installations. Staff was asked to prepare a council briefing memo with more detailed distribution, speed‑distribution data and the arterial/functional‑classification implications that would accompany any move from an arterial to a neighborhood street profile.
