Late at night on March 2, Keith Politte awoke to the sound of a car violently crashing into his front yard. The driver had been going so fast that he split a three-quarter ton boulder sitting in front of Politte's house.
Unfortunately, this sort of occurrence is not rare for Politte, hence the boulder in his front yard. He says drivers have crashed into his front yard nearly a dozen times in the 15 years he has lived in his house at the west end of Stewart Road.
After a back-and-forth public discussion, the Columbia City Council unanimously approved the construction of speed humps, speed tables and the addition of crosswalks along Stewart Road at its regular meeting Monday night.
Several people who live in the area spoke at the public hearing. Residents were generally hopeful that the new measures would alleviate the speeding-related issues that have long plagued the neighborhood. However, some disapproved, saying that the speed humps will not work as intended.
Politte was pleased with the outcome and hoped the new efforts to temper speeding would prevent drivers from crashing into his yard.
"My house is also becoming a speed bump, so I appreciate what you guys are doing tonight," Politte said during the hearing.
The city will spend an estimated $31,800 on the work, which will include:
- Four speed humps located west of Lindell Drive, east of Westwood Avenue, east of Edgewood Avenue and east of West Parkway;
- A climbing bike lane;
- And crosswalks at Edgewood Avenue, Glenwood Avenue and West Parkway.
Stewart is a wide and straight street between Garth Avenue and West Boulevard that carries about 3,900 vehicles per day, according to a staff report to the City Council. The city received multiple complaints from residents about people speeding down the street.
The city's Neighborhood Traffic Management Program declared the "traffic calming" project a top priority last year. The speed limit on Stewart Road is 30 mph, but the city found that the 85th percentile speed — a statistic commonly used by traffic engineers — is just shy of 40 mph. That means 85 percent of drivers are traveling at or below that speed. The other 15 percent are going faster.
Construction of the speed humps will likely occur during the 2017 "construction season" according to the staff report.