Monday, June 3, 2013

Traffic Calming Study - A.K.A. Richardson Supporting the Auto Repair Industry


Last year about this time, Dumont had its own version of speed bumps, more commonly know as pot-holes. What a difference a year makes!



Dumont was redone from Central to Weatherred and has been a very nice road to drive on since the repairs. At least is was nice to drive on until late last week.



Several times last week I pass by several cops just staking out the road. It looked like they were looking for speeder. Seems maybe they were just looking to get an idea of how fast people were travelling on Dumont instead. The cops were gone and something else appeared, "Speed Cushions" is what Richardson staff are calling them.



Dumont is a street I travel on when I am headed home. In a truck, they are not in anyway a "cushion". Let's just call them what they really are, speed bumps. Even at 5mph they are a bit uncomfortable.

So the second time I had to go by way of Dumont I by-passed the 700 block of Dumont and instead used Scottsdale, which was a "cushion" free zone.

Now, on the other hand, if the city wants to help citizens tear up their cars with this kind of stuff, about all I can say about it is go for it! It will in no way harm the car repair business. That is the kind of pro-business, anti-citizen things I might be able to get behind, especially since a route around those "cushions" is very easy to find.

There is a phone number there just in case you want to call and share some feelings one way or another.

5 comments:

  1. What a difference a few years makes. There was quite the fuss over this idea from city staff, claiming damage to fire trucks, and delayed emergency services would result. What a joke. This is the best practice used across the country to slow traffic on these neighborhood throughways. Good they have come out of their slumber.

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  2. Yep, about time. I can think of many streets that need these devices. The city line about emergency vehicles is simply an attempt to change the subject and avoid the work.

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  3. I may have a different perspective. The Dublin Speedway is next for resurface, I fought for some form of calming for years, then gave up begging for the potholes to stay as it was the only way to slow traffic. June 10th, they start tearing it up, at least we'll have 10 months of one way and slowed traffic with comprise of a mess and noise. After that, just like when the Texas Motor Speedway resurfaced, increased speeds are coming, but with the lack of restrictor plates...

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  4. Most forms of traditional "calming" include a single, or multiple points of slowing. Nice thing is the approach speeds decrease, typically. Problem comes in the acceleration and the related noise away from it, or the dumbass that misses it and flys. We had a natural dip in the road right in front of my house for years, it slowed a lot of them down, the others left gouges and mufflers to clean up.

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  5. Where do you live anon10:35? I have been looking for where I lost my muffler and think you migh have found it. :-)

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