There are five bumpy roads ahead for Windsor Terrace and Greenwood Heights.
Community Board 7 voted on Wednesday in favor of requests by residents for speed bumps on Ocean Parkway between Caton and Kermit places, 21st Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues and Fifth and Sixth avenues, and Sixth Avenue between 21st and 22nd streets and 22nd and 23rd streets.
“It’s about safety,” said Sam Sierra, chair of the board’s transportation committee, who backed all pleas for the traffic-calming lumps. “When you have families coming here in support of them and speaking about safety, how can we say no to our neighbors who wish to keep safe on our streets?”
Residents say that without the speed deterrent bumps reckless lead-footed drivers will continue to treat their blocks like raceways.
“We need something to slow the traffic down and this may be the solution,” said board member and Kermit Place resident George Bissell.
The speed bumps are only the latest traffic-calming measure in Greenwood Heights. where residents want to cut the speed limit from 30 to 20 miles per hour on a five-block stretch of Sixth Avenue that is without any stop signs or traffic lights.
The Department of Transportation has already conducted separate studies for each of the proposed speed bumps and deemed them all “feasible,” according to CB7 district manager Jeremy Laufer. The agency required the approval of CB7 before it moves forward with their installation.
But not all of the proposed speed bumps got the rubber-stamp: the push for a speed bump on 18th Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues never made it to the full board because opponents were fearful of noise and the impact vehicles would have on the pipes below the street when they roll over the bump too fast.
The request for a traffic-calming lump on 11th Avenue between Prospect Avenue and Sherman Street was tabled after a resident raised the concern that the street is made of landfill.
“It’s not like it’s a leveled street. The street is wavy,” said Sierra, who added that the Department of Transportation will figure out how to address the issue. “The fear is that if they put the speed bump there, it will shake the foundation of the houses even more so because the street is landfill.”
Reach reporter Natalie Musumeci at nmusumeci@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4505. Follow her at twitter.com/souleddout.
