To the Editor:

Queen Street now has speed bumps in place. The amount of money and resources put into the Queen Street bumps in the road is indicative of the ultimate in the “squeaky wheel syndrome”! You know, the one that gets the grease. The money spent on studies, police crackdowns, more traffic studies, legislative time (which is money), only serves a portion of the town. Why should my tax dollars be spent to answer the prevailing winds of but a fraction of the town and borough, and not have the safety of the roads of the entire borough and town analyzed? This questionable traffic flow resolution is now inhaling steroids and must be tested for abuse. More bumps in the road?  Really?  Are we creating a Baja off-road test track?  Why has there been no town referendum on this expenditure?  In this time of fiscal concerns and budget defeats, it seems odd to spend more dollars on additional bumps in the road, when the issue seems to have been resolved by the existing bumps?  Have the bumps failed?

I live in Newtown and in the borough on Curry Drive. My road intersects Currituck Road, only two blocks from Main Street. The speed limit is posted at 35 mph, but the prevailing speed is in the area of 50 mph, as vehicles use Currituck to divert from Route 25 in the Newtown/Brookfield area, very similar to how vehicles use Queen Street to divert from Route 25. There are NO sidewalks and many walk on Currituck for exercise and to get to Main Street. Perhaps we should spend more money and examine the traffic patterns on the other side of town, and the well-known cut-through road of Currituck, and the amount of speeding that threatens town and borough drivers and pedestrians. By addressing only Queen Street, the town may very well be liable for ignoring other similar safety issues, if accidents involving speeding occur on Currituck.  Have you driven down The Boulevard in the borough lately? Why has this straight, level, smooth cut through road, close to a school, not been bumped?  Yes, the bump is now out of the bag!

While I favor a more traditional traffic and speed monitoring (police and radar) why is Currituck Road any different from Queen Street? Indeed, why is any road in the borough any different from Queen Street? If bumpy roads are good for one road, are they not good for all?  This entire process can be labeled “flawed,” at best!

These additional planned bumps on Queen Street may only serve to increase the dangerous emissions from exhausts of vehicles that do travel the road at speeds between 5 mph and 10 mph, maneuvering over voluminous bumps.  This can create an environmental and physical health hazard.  Better call in OSHA for another study!

I may seek advice and counsel from the Police Commission for relief to the dangerous conditions on Currituck Road. I guess I will need to be “squeaky”!

Sincerely,

Richard A. English

3 Curry Drive Newtown                     June 25, 2013