Two Dorchester city councillors say they are frustrated and confused by the Wu administration’s current approach to installing new speed humps as residents continue to bombard them with requests for the installations aimed at reducing speeds on neighborhood streets.
District 3 Councillor John FitzGerald and District 4 Councillor Brian Worrell have called on Wu’s Streets Cabinet to clarify where things stand, with FitzGerald saying that his office has been left with the impression that a pause on new humps is still in place this season.
“I think the pause should be lifted and I don’t think there was ever a true reason to pause it,” he said. “There are still several streets that need to have protection and several that were promised to be priorities for my district that haven’t come to fruition.
“I worry that we are really behind schedule and soon a fiscal reality could catch up to us and permanently pause it. I would like to get what is owed and what is best for the safety of the people in my district.”
A Wu administration official who spoke to The Reporter last week contended that there is no pause and that there were 100 new speed humps deployed this past summer, with 50 in the queue for this fall. They are being installed to synch with other repaving work or sidewalk repairs.
“I think there has been a shift in how we have planned and deployed speed humps and other traffic calming measures, but it is certainly not paused,” said the official, who was not permitted to speak to the press on the record. “What we’ve done is tried to step back and take a look at a more holistic approach to incorporating speed humps into our annual capital programming,” the official added.
For his part, Worrell said his office and other councillors remain puzzled by the policy, which has not been explained to them.
“It would be good to have a clear understanding of how the city will be implementing speed humps,” he said. “It’s about clarity around the process and how the city can identify what streets will be scheduled or considered for speed humps. We’ve gone between two different programs previously and now we’re in a place where the process hasn’t been clearly defined to the public.”
Speed humps are traffic calming measures used to slow cars down, specifically on residential streets. They are less steep than speed bumps – commonly used in parking lots – to allow emergency vehicles and snow plows to more easily pass over them while still keeping vehicle speeds slower.
While speed humps have been used for many years, it wasn’t until 2017 under a Vision Zero traffic program called ‘Slow Streets’ that they were introduced on a large scale in Dorchester’s Talbot Norfolk Triangle (TNT) neighborhood adjacent to Codman Square. They later spread to the West of Washington neighborhood, then on to the St. Brendan’s area, and on a large scale during the ‘Safety Surge’ program to the Hancock/Quincy Street area’s numerous side streets.
Residents in the areas that have had speed humps for many years give mixed reviews. Janytt Scott, who lives in TNT, said that there needs to be improvements to the program.
“I would say our experience is somewhere in the middle,” Scott said. “I would say they do slow traffic down but in order to be truly effective they need to be slightly higher. Once the drivers got used to them at that height, they just rolled over them like they weren’t there…It’s a double- edged sword because we need to slow down in the community, especially on these side streets that lead to the main roads.”
She also said they need to install them from curb to curb instead of stopping three feet from the curb. That leeway, she said, allows drivers and scooters to maneuver around them. She also noted that repairing them takes too long.
For those still waiting for answers, the councillors say the revised approach has slowed down requests and caused frustration in the neighborhoods that want them. Worrell said this kind of confusion has led some to create their own humps.
“We don’t want that to happen,” he said. “We don’t want residents taking street improvements into their own hands. If we can offer a clear process, residents can know their voices are not only being heard but that (speed humps) are coming. Right now, we’re in a place of uncertainty and that’s when people go and do their own things.”
FitzGerald said he would like the city to allow councillors to submit requests annually, setting up a pathway for implementation and clear communication.
“It is the number one request we get in our office,” he said. “I believe every city councillor should get 10-15 streets per year they put forward because they live there and hear from the people and know those in need.”
