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Cedar City council leaves South Mountain Drive speed bump in place until bypass built, orders new signs and increased patrols
Summary
After hearing about a July 4 incident involving an emergency vehicle and lengthy council discussion, Cedar City voted to keep the contested speed bump on South Mountain Drive until a bypass road is completed; the council also directed improved signage and stepped-up enforcement.
Cedar City’s council voted on July 8 to keep an existing speed bump on South Mountain Drive until one of two planned bypass roads is completed, and directed public-works staff and police to improve signage and increase enforcement in the area.
The item began after council members raised safety concerns following a July 4 response in which a fire truck struck a bump while responding to a call. A council member described the incident as a reminder that “things can go wrong when we have those speed bumps on public roadways, especially when they’re on some of those primary routes,” and said the South Mountain Drive device is hard to see approaching from the east.
Other council members said the bump has slowed traffic for pedestrians in the school area but questioned its location on a break in the hill, where visibility is limited. One council member urged enforcement and relocated signage as a complement to any physical measures: “we need to focus on that because the speed bump is not fixing the speeding,” the council member said, calling for patrol attention and stricter citations.
Faced with competing views — safety benefits for students and pedestrians versus the hazard posed to emergency vehicles and the bump’s placement — the council ultimately approved a motion to defer removal. The motion, made by a council member who favored leaving the bump in place, directs staff to adjust speed-limit and warning signs and directs the police department to increase patrols in the corridor until a bypass road is built, at which point the council agreed the bump should be removed.
The council framed the decision as a temporary compromise that balances short-term resident safety and traffic flow with a plan to eliminate the device when alternative routing is available. Council members also discussed minor follow-up work such as re-striping and relocating signs to improve driver advance notice of the bump.
The vote was taken during the July 8 action meeting and the motion carried; the council’s direction will be incorporated into forthcoming street-department work orders and police patrol plans.
