By lisagracekellogg@icloud.com | on September 23, 2022

Oxnard– The Public Works & Transportation Committee, during a Saturday, September 17 special meeting, approved the proposed Speed Hump Program in the City.

T HE Speed Hump program is a traffic-calming tool to enhance pedestrian and diver safety, and reduce speeding and cut-through traffic on residential streets.

Public works Director Michael Wolfe presented the video to the public and said the City gets a significant number of traffic calming requests, 200 over a five-year period, and the program will help address this issue.

“The program will be a well-defined engineering approach to implement those requests if vetted out to enable a Speed Hump to be installed,” he said. “It will also establish priorities as we won’t be able to install all of them if requested.”

He noted that Speed Humps should only be implemented after all the other options are implemented.

“What Speed Humps shouldn’t be used for and can’t do is be placed on high-volume streets, such as arterials and collector streets,” he said. “It should be used in a set of three. A single Speed Hump actually, through research, doesn’t help in the situation. Speed Humps are usually installed in groups of three to be effective, and they shouldn’t be installed on streets where we have known drainage and flooding issues.”

He showed typical Speed Humps and Speed Cushions and said the cushions have a wide angle component that a vehicle like a Fire Truck can straddle without slowing down.

“Some of the cons of Speed Humps are reduced emergency response time and increased noise,” Wolfe said. “A couple of things I will point out about increased costs is that for public vehicles like ER Trucks, suspension and alignment costs as they go over the Speed Humps routinely. There is some potential for having the Speed Humps and Signs placed right in front of residential properties.”

He said if Speed Humps are on one street, the problem often moves to another street, and you chase the problem throughout the neighborhood.

“Some of the key elements of a speed hump program, and there’s a lot of agencies who have these programs, so they are pretty consistent across the board, include both a staff process and a resident process,” he said. “We want to make sure it meets some minimum criteria; otherwise, the volume of requests and the volume of Speed Humps being installed would not be feasible.”

Wolfe said he wants to ensure they address some of the most impactful areas and will look at areas with an 85th speed percentile at least nine miles per hour over the posted speed limit.

“Or there’s some documented collisions resulting from a speed-related primary collision factor,” he said. “Another big one is to make sure that we coordinate with our emergency response team so Fire and PD, as indicated. Typically, Speed Humps can reduce emergency response time.”

He said other key program elements include residents being impacted by the Speed Humps, if placed, are aware.

“We would require that if a fully vetted area went through the analysis process, we would ask the neighborhood to get two-thirds of their neighbors to agree for installation of the Speed Humps,” he said. “The other key component would be a ranking and prioritization in the program. We would want to have a defined point system of how we prioritize requests that get through the process. We would suggest prioritization be done on a council district level. We also suggest that any request be valid for three years.”

Wolfe said doing an analysis will cost about $500 in 2022 costs. If it’s warranted, installing a speed hump is approximately $25,000, including the markings and the physical Speed Hump.

“We recommend a group of three,” he said. “That has proven to be researched in reducing speed,” he said. “There’s an annualized cost of about $500 to maintain those locations in perpetuity. We also recommend that we would fund by Council District, so if we’re using a $50,000 per district suggestion, that would do one or two locations by district. That would result in about $300,000 in any one year of funding.”

Wolfe said some agencies allow for all, or a portion of the cost, to be privately funded. The staff does not recommend that in Oxnard because it can create equity issues.

“We’ve worked with police, fire, and public works, which is the streets maintenance team and environmental resources team, plus the City Attorney’s Office in reviewing some of the key program elements, pros, and cons,” he said.

He noted some comments from police and fire that Speed Humps increase response times. Speed Cushions could be used to help minimize delays with the larger Fire vehicles, but they don’t have the same benefits for ambulances and smaller response vehicles.

“The Police Department anticipates a minimum impact to their response time, but they are supportive of the process, allowing their resources to be focused on other areas,” Wolfe said.

During the meeting, Council Member Vianey Lopez said when she shared the information with some Neighborhood Councils, she kept saying Speed Bumps, but there is a difference between a Speed Bump and a Speed Hump.

“From an engineering perspective, there is a very big difference between a Speed Bump and Speed Hump,” Wolfe said. “Speed Humps are engineered devices designed to create a regular flow of traffic. They are designed to create a reduction in speed in certain situations but not to make somebody come to a complete stop.”

He said someone will find a Speed Bump in a parking lot or an HOA area where you’re trying to keep the speeds down to around five miles per hour.

They are jarring, not engineered and hastily installed,” he said. “They don’t have a play in our professional world with the International Traffic Engineers. They are not a recognized device.”

Committee Member Mayor John Zaragoza asked Wolfe to explain cut-trough traffic, and Wolfe said the staff needs the proper tools to address the problem if there is one.

“When we talk about traffic calming devices from an engineering perspective, those are a multitude of engineering methodologies that allow us to address certain types of issues,” Wolfe said. “Some examples may be a roundabout. That has some value to us in unique circumstances. That is considered a traffic-calming device. Radar Feedback Signs are traffic-calming devices.”

He noted that changing lane configurations, narrowing them, or taking them away addressed certain issues.

“With cut-through traffic, you can imagine a scenario from a planning perspective from 50 years ago a neighborhood was designed and constructed and the world around it grew up and created intersections that may not have existed when the neighborhood was there,” Wolfe said. “Some people want to avoid those intersections because it potentially delays their process.”

He said cut-through traffic is the path of the least resistance for motorists.

“We have residential streets parallel major arterials and collectors,” he said. “Some folks decide to use the residential street to make that commute, so they avoid the intersection because there may be a 60-second delay because of a traffic signal.”

Wolfe said Speed Humps sometimes reduce cut-through traffic, and it’s a tool to address the issue.

“We recommend this program to have this tool in our toolbox, but if we do have it, how do we prioritize the locations,” he said. “How do we make a list? We can’t do them all. Having come from other agencies that have this, there are usually multiple requests for this, and we really gotta consider that this is not the solution every time.”

Chairman Bert Perello said it sounds like complaints Council members get about main intersections surrounded by various neighborhoods that feel a thoroughfare is in the center of their neighborhood.

“The concern with the residential speed limit in the neighborhood is a little less than it is on the thoroughfares,” he said. “People are getting a little bit hesitant; they’re getting really rude and careless about how they have to get to work because they took a little too long getting ready to get to work.”

Wolfe said 200 traffic calming requests is a significant number.

“We already are doing Capital Improvement Projects, operation and maintenance projects,” he said. “We’re doing those things to address what we are seeing. We have a Traffic Management Center that manages that.”

This story will continue September 30.

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