Queen Street—

Traffic Enforcement Heightened, Speed Bumps Planned

By Andrew Gorosko

Police Commission members this week learned about police’s recent heightened traffic speed enforcement on Queen Street, and also made plans for the placement of two temporary speed bumps there, which could lead to the installation of five permanent speed bumps on the heavily traveled road.

Lieutenant George Sinko told Police Commission members on March 6 that in response to residents’ continuing complaints about high traffic speeds on Queen Street, police conducted a speeding crackdown on that mile-long north-south street in the town center that links Church Hill Road to Mile Hill Road. The police commission is the local traffic authority.

During February, police issued 135 individual enforcement assignments to patrol officers to monitor driver behavior along that roadway, Lt Sinko said.

During the 20 days that police conducted the crackdown, they stopped 369 drivers for various violations, Lt Sinko said. Those violations primarily involved speeding, he said.

“We want the public to know we’re going to be focusing on it,” he said of Queen Street traffic enforcement. “The public should know that we’re out there,” he added.

Among those 369 motor vehicle stops, police issued three misdemeanor summonses, 166 infraction tickets, 155 written warnings, and 45 verbal warnings, he said.

The public is more likely to obey traffic laws if drivers realize that police will be on patrol looking for violations, according to Police Chief Michael Kehoe.

Lt Sinko pointed out, however, that it would be difficult for police to maintain the level of Queen Street enforcement that they provided in February.

Consequently, Police Commission members agreed on plans to initially place two temporary structures, and potentially five permanent structures, on the southern section of Queen Street to deter speeding. The section of Queen Street lying between its intersections with Glover Avenue and Mile Hill Road would be the site of “speed tables,” which are broad speed bumps designed to reduce traffic speeds.

Commission members agreed that by April 15, the town should install two temporary speed tables on the southern section of the street to gauge such devices’ effectiveness in holding down traffic speeds there.

Based on the traffic flow data collected in conjunction with the presence of the temporary speed bumps for two months, Police Commission members would then decide if up to five permanent speed bumps should be placed on southern Queen Street.

The process to determine the practicality of speed bumps on Queen Street would be similar to the process the town used to install permanent speed bumps on Key Rock Road last year.

Town Public Works Director Fred Hurley told Police Commission members that after the town installed speed bumps on Key Rock Road, many residents called the public works department to express their concerns about the inconvenience posed by the presence of such obstructions.

But those callers eventually realized that the town needs to take steps to deal with speeding problems, Mr Hurley said.

The town’s emergency services staffers and its snowplow drivers have not had problems traveling over the two speed bumps on Key Rock Road, he said.

The design for permanent speed bumps that the town developed for Key Rock Road would the design that is employed on Queen Street if permanent speed bumps are installed there, he said.

Mr Hurley told commission members that it would take a minimum of three speed bumps and more likely five speed bumps to control traffic speeds on the section of Queen Street between its intersections with Glover Avenue and Mile Hill Road.

Mr Hurley noted that in the past, a temporary “raised crosswalk” was positioned on Glover Avenue at its intersection with Meadow Road, but vehicles traveling over it posed noise problems for residents living nearby. The town later removed that structure, which combines the features of a speed bump and a crosswalk.

Mr Hurley said there are probably four or five locations on southern Queen Street where speed bumps would be workable.

He cautioned that there are several streets that intersect with southern Queen Street that drivers might use to avoid traveling over speed bumps on Queen Street. The traffic studies to be conducted in conjunction with the temporary speed bump installation would provide information on whether adjoining streets experience traffic problems caused by traffic diversions from Queen Street.

Mr Hurley noted that town officials are planning to install speed bumps “out of frustration” with high travel speeds.

To improve safety at the intersection of Queen Street and Glover Avenue, the existing triangular intersection there should be converted into a T-shaped intersection, Mr Hurley said.

Police Commission Chairman Paul Mangiafico asked how much it would cost the town to convert the geometry of that intersection from triangular to T-shaped.

Such work would cost about $30,000 to $40,000, Mr Hurley said, but stressed that the borough government is opposed to removing an existing mature tree on the turf triangle at the intersection that would be required for such a project.