Oktibbeha County Supervisors have recently approved a new traffic calming policy officials hope will reduce speeding in some communities.
County Road Manager Fred Hal Baggett said he based the policy on Madison County’s. It creates an avenue for community members to petition the county to install or remove speed bumps along certain public roads.
The policy applies to roads that are “minor” and residential, with a traffic flow of 2,000 vehicles or fewer per day. Such roads must be paved, with a speed limit of 35 miles per hour or less.
Some county roads do not have posted speed limits. Those have an assumed speed limit of 40 miles per hour. Baggett said he would come to the board and request to post a speed limit on those roads before installing speed bumps.
The speed bumps, if installed, would be placed far enough apart to encourage motorists to stay at or below the speed limit, Baggett said.
“They go from 450 to 600 feet apart,” he said. “We figured it to where if someone hits one, if they accelerate at a certain rate, they get to the speed limit when they hit the next one. By the time they accelerate to a certain speed, they hit another one, and the same thing over and over. That way, there’s a kind of anticipation as to where they are and that helps the person slow down, and they do so in such a way as to not damage the vehicle.”
The policy notes speed bumps won’t be placed on collector or arterial roads with more than two lanes or that are more than 40 feet wide. They also won’t be placed on roads emergency response vehicles use as primary routes, or roads where the county engineer believes they can’t be safely installed due to sharp turns or inadequate sight leading to the speed bumps.
Baggett said he pursued making a policy in order to slow down traffic in residential areas. He didn’t name any specific communities, but noted areas near Mississippi State University can be particularly prone to speeding.
“In lots of communities near the university that students travel through, the rate they go at is unbelievable,” Baggett said. “It’s like they’re testing their cars to see if they can make the curves and get all the Gs going. So something has to be done.”
Supes respond
District 1 Supervisor John Montgomery said he thought the policy was a welcome addition for the county. He said the county has wrestled for years with traffic calming measures, and having an official speed bump policy should help.
“There’s been a level of interest in the community, especially in our neighborhoods, to look at some speed bumps or traffic calming mechanisms,” Montgomery said. “In the past, all we’ve been able to use is signage and rumble strips. … I think this is a policy that will make our county a little bit safer.”
District 5 Supervisor Joe Williams said he is pleased with the new policy. However, in an interview with The Dispatch, he said he’d like to see the county look into stopping speeding on long straightaways. The new policy is not geared toward slowing traffic on those roads, he said.
“On most of the straightaway county roads, our traffic is just entirely too fast,” he said.
Installation and removal process
In order to install a speed bump, 51 percent of the property owners, residents, and those or who use the road to access their property, have to submit a petition for a traffic study to the chancery clerk’s office or county administrator’s office.
Once the petition is received, the county engineer will conduct a study to evaluate the feasibility of installing speed bumps, according to the policy. If they’re warranted, the engineer will then meet with representatives of the residents requesting speed bumps to discuss options for installation. If the speed bump installation is agreed upon, the county engineer will mark their locations for residents to review.
After that, 75 percent of property owners and residents must submit a petition, like the initial one, to the chancery clerk or county administrator.
The board of supervisors can then vote whether to install the speed bumps.
Supervisors can consider removing speed bumps, according to the policy, after they’ve been in place for at least two years and 75 percent or property owners and residents submit a petition to have them removed. They can also be removed if a safety or engineering issue negatively impacts the roadway.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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