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Lakewood council agrees to one-year pause on neighborhood speed-hump installs to shift focus to collectors
Summary
Council gave staff consensus to pause the city's neighborhood speed-hump program for one year and redirect staff time and funds to speed cushions and other traffic-calming measures on minor collectors and targeted collectors; staff will report back in six months.
Lakewood City staff asked the council on Dec. 1 to pause the city's neighborhood speed-hump installation program for one year and redirect program funding and staff capacity toward traffic-calming measures on collectors and arterials where most serious crashes occur.
“Staff's recommendation is to put a pause just like Boulder and just have us work on collectors and arterials where we're seeing that 96 percent of the injury and fatals are happening,” Mike Whitaker, Lakewood's transportation engineer, told council members. He said the department currently budgets about $75,000 per year for speed humps, which typically yields roughly 25 humps annually, and that residents traditionally pay a 50/50 share averaging about $3,000 per hump.
Whitaker described alternatives the city could use on higher-volume collectors, including speed cushions (hardware with wheel slots to allow emergency vehicles to straddle them), temporary quick-build treatments (flex posts, painted curb extensions) and mobile radar-feedback signs. He said speed cushions can be deployed on minor collectors with volumes up to about 6,500 vehicles per day and that cost per cushion is comparable to an individual hump, though a bit higher due to additional fabrication.
Councilors raised equity and access concerns about a strict petition and cost-share model for collectors. Councilor Isabel Cruz noted the petition process can be onerous and said staff should explore options other than a 50/50 resident cost share. Councilor Lowe urged prioritizing collectors because data shows they concentrate the highest risk of severe crashes: “That's where we're going to save more lives,” he said.
Council members reached consensus to pause neighborhood speed-hump installs for the 2026 calendar year, redirect the program's staff and budget toward minor collectors and other targeted treatments, and receive a staff update in six months on a revised traffic-calming approach. Radar-feedback signs and temporary low-cost measures will remain deployable during the pause.
