Police officials plan to research whether adding more “speed tables” to the northern section of Key Rock Road would solve a motorist speeding problem there.

That speeding occurs when westbound drivers on Sugar Street (Route 302), which is a thoroughfare with a 40-mph speed limit, turn left and travel onto southbound Key Rock Road and are moving at speeds faster than Key Rock Road’s posted 20-mph speed limit.

Speed tables are broad shallowly-pitched speed bumps designed to hold down travel speeds in the areas where they are positioned.

Key Rock Road is a one mile-long north-south residential connector road that links Sugar Street to the intersection of Hattertown Road and Poverty Hollow Road.

The presence of speed tables has been a controversial local topic, especially in the borough. 

The section of Queen Street lying between its intersections with Grand Place and Mile Hill Road has five speed tables. Those devices have proved controversial, with some residents applauding their presence as a speed-calming measure and others criticizing them as an obstruction to traffic flow.

At the September 2 Police Commission meeting, resident Carine Kuhn, who lives along the northern section of Key Rock Road near Sugar Street, told commission members that traffic conditions are becoming worse along Key Rock Road, adding that some motorists become pointedly rude when asked to slow down.

Ms Kuhn told Police Commission members that she has seen large trucks and buses traveling on Key Rock Road.

Ms Kuhn said that although two speed tables are located on the northern section of Key Rock Road, in the area between its intersections with Sugar Street and the dead-end North Branch Road, there are no speed tables on the section of Key Rock Road close to its intersection with Sugar Street.

Ms Kuhn urged that police enforce the speed limit on Key Rock Road and also asked that a speed table be installed near her home there.

The Police Commission is the local traffic authority and reviews such requests.

In late 2011, the town installed two permanent speed tables on Key Rock Road after a lengthy study of speeding problems there. A North Branch Road man had persistently called for the measure, pressing the Police Commission for action to control speeding.

The area is heavily marked with pavement paint stripes and street signs to warn motorists of the presence of the speed tables.

In late 2010, the town had installed temporary speed tables on Key Rock Road to gauge where permanent asphalt speed tables should be installed.

Speeding Problem

Police Chief Michael Kehoe observed that vehicles which exit the higher-speed westbound Sugar Street and then make a left turn onto the lower-speed southbound Key Rock Road continue at a high speed until reaching the northernmost speed table on Key Rock Road. That is a travel distance of about 1,100 feet.

 Chief Kehoe suggested that police formally review the speeding issue, investigate nearby residents’ thoughts about installing more speed tables on Key Rock Road, and possibly install two more speed tables there.

Police Commission member Joel Faxon, who said he is familiar with driving on Key Rock Road, said that westbound motorists on Sugar Street who turn left onto Key Rock Road may be speeding up when making that left turn in order to avoid having a vehicular accident on Sugar Street. The intersection has limited sight lines and a hilly, curving geometry.  

Commission member Brian Budd suggested that the commission expedite its Key Rock Road speeding review process.

Mr Faxon, however, cautioned that any new Key Rock Road speed table not be positioned too close to Key Rock Road’s intersection with Sugar Street.

Police Commission Chairman Paul Mangiafico said that speed tables are not expensive to install.

Chief Kehoe said he would research the speeding problem on Key Rock Road, focusing on whether more speed tables should be installed there.

The northern section of Key Rock Road, where the two existing speed tables are installed, is flat and straight, as the road is positioned on earthen fill on its course through a swamp. The central and southern sections of the road are hilly and winding, with several blind curves, making for hazardous travel.

(Modified at 2 pm on September 15, 2014).