Speed Humps

I was astounded to read the letters of complaint regarding the implementation of speed bumps or humps in Howard County, particularly those opposing ones slated for Thunder Hill Road. Clearly, the person complaining does not live on Thunder Hill Road but must drive on it or why complain. I live on Thunder Hill Road so I have to ask: Are you the one who disregards the speed limit by speeding up and down the street while on the phone or texting? In the past, when we called the police, requesting that they monitor the street, they clocked drivers going from 40-65 miles per hour in a 25 MPH zone.

I was astounded to read the letters of complaint regarding the implementation of speed bumps or humps in Howard County, particularly those opposing ones slated for Thunder Hill Road. Clearly, the person complaining does not live on Thunder Hill Road but must drive on it or why complain. I live on Thunder Hill Road so I have to ask: Are you the one who disregards the speed limit by speeding up and down the street while on the phone or texting? In the past, when we called the police, requesting that they monitor the street, they clocked drivers going from 40-65 miles per hour in a 25 MPH zone.

Kings Contrivance village resident Richard Tucci won't let his 8-year-old daughter cross Vollmerhausen Road by herself to visit friends for fear of speeding vehicles."

THE PROBLEM Three speed humps on Walker Avenue in North Baltimore appear too high for cars to safely traverse, even at slow seeds. THE BACKSTORY The speed limit on Walker Avenue, a winding and hilly residential street at the far northern edge of the city, is 25 mph. To drive the point home, the city installed three speed humps between The Alameda and Leith Walk. They are called "humps" for a reason. Each is about 12 feet wide. But it is the height of the hump that has raised the ire of Walker Avenue resident Nancy M. Monti.

Montgomery County's aggressive campaign to tame residential street traffic by building speed humps has hit a detour.The County Council voted yesterday to place a moratorium on construction of the so-called "traffic-calming" devices, saying residents raised enough questions at a hearing last month to warrant additional study.Montgomery is the state leader in speed humps, with 950 on the road and 58 more being built this year.Initially, the 2-year-old program was applauded by residents who had grown tired of motorists using side streets as shortcuts and by parents who worried about the safety of their children.

An article in Wednesday's edition of The Sun in Anne Arundel contained incorrect information from Anne Arundel County officials about the requirements for installing speed humps. Officials say that at least 15 percent of drivers on a road must be clocked traveling at least 10 mph over the speed limit before humps are put in.The Sun regrets the error.Speeding motorists in some Anne Arundel communities soon could get a jolt, thanks to a $100,000 appropriation County Executive John G. Gary has added to his proposed budget.

NOTHING IS MORE frightening than motorists racing through residential areas, jeopardizing life and limb. For many neighborhood associations, slowing traffic through their communities has become a top priority.Anne Arundel County officials have recognized this concern and have developed a variety of solutions. County Executive John G. Gary has put an extra $100,000 into next year's budget to finance construction of one solution -- speed humps.Many suburban streets encourage speeding. They are wide, flat, straight and don't have many crossings.

NOTHING IS MORE frightening than motorists racing through residential areas, jeopardizing life and limb. For many neighborhood associations, slowing traffic through their communities has become a top priority.Anne Arundel County officials have recognized this concern and have developed a variety of solutions. County Executive John G. Gary has put an extra $100,000 into next year's budget to finance construction of one solution -- speed humps.Many suburban streets encourage speeding. They are wide, flat, straight and don't have many crossings.

TOO MANY DRIVERS thumb their noses at speed limit signs. Why, the thinking goes, should a seemingly arbitrary number posted on a pesky placard determine how fast people drive, especially on straight, wide roads that resemble drag strips?Unfortunately, this is the cavalier attitude of drivers on residential streets such as east Columbia's Thunder Hill Road, which becomes "Days of Thunder" when traffic tears through.Howard County engineers want to suppress that urge by altering the configuration of roads through residential developments.

A water main break during the weekend forced the closing of the intersection of Cedarcroft Road and Northwood Drive in Northeast Baltimore until the end of the week, a spokesman for the city Department of Public Works said.Kurt Kocher, the spokesman, said that the underground break was quickly repaired but it caused part of the intersection to collapse.Kocher said detour signs have been placed at the intersection to direct vehicles to other routes.Also yesterday, work began on a $1.4 million project to improve Homeland Avenue between Charles Street and York Road in North Baltimore, Kocher said.

If you seem to be hitting more bumps in the road on Baltimore's streets, it's at least partly by design. Since the late 1990s, the city, acting at the request of residents seeking to slow drivers speeding through their neighborhoods, has installed one or more speed humps at nearly 100 locations. Two dozen more requests are pending, from Forest Park in Northwest Baltimore to Cherry Hill in South Baltimore, and more are arriving every week. The city's Department of Transportation Web site lists "How do I get a speed hump installed in my neighborhood?"

In hindsight, Andrew McBee realizes he went a speed hump too far. For almost three years, McBee used a homemade speed hump to slow vehicles in the alley behind his home on Murdock Road in Rodgers Forge. McBee even installed a small sign, warning motorists of the hump, although the sign said bump, for McBee was not aware there were distinctions between the two so-called traffic-calming devices. Then, in spring of this year, McBee's neighbor, Greg McClelland, asked if McBee would make a similar hump in the alley behind his home.

BEEN NORTH OF Hunt Valley on Interstate 83 lately?That's where you'll find a 10-mile, $3.4 million resurfacing project under way, marked by lane closures, detours and milled pavement.Such work has created anxiety for many who live in God's country and rely on the Baltimore- Harrisburg Expressway as their fast link to civilization.One driver, Jim Anthony of Sparks, said the detours add to a touchy situation for drivers of Upper Glencoe Road near its intersection with York Road in Hereford.

SPEED HUMPS, the latest development in speed control on county roads, are sprouting up in many of our neighborhoods, and they are proving effective.These ripples in the road are 2 to 3 inches high and up to 22 feet long (in the direction of the traffic). They are smaller than the more familiar, vertebrae-altering speed bumps, which are 6 to 8 inches high and 8 to 16 inches long.Unlike the more abrupt speed bumps, speed humps rise 3 inches in 6 feet, then are flat for 10 feet, then drop 3 inches in 6 feet.

DON DOWNER carefully looks up and down Beechwood Drive before venturing across the empty street in Allview to talk to a neighbor.It isn't long before their conversation about tomato plants and a possible overnight frost is interrupted by the sound of an approaching car's engine being revved up into a higher gear.As he has done many times, Mr. Downer turns around and tries to catch the eye of the driver before he roars past. Mr. Downer sticks out both hands, palms down, and repeats a pushing motion toward the ground.

TOO MANY DRIVERS thumb their noses at speed limit signs. Why, the thinking goes, should a seemingly arbitrary number posted on a pesky placard determine how fast people drive, especially on straight, wide roads that resemble drag strips?Unfortunately, this is the cavalier attitude of drivers on residential streets such as east Columbia's Thunder Hill Road, which becomes "Days of Thunder" when traffic tears through.Howard County engineers want to suppress that urge by altering the configuration of roads through residential developments.

DON DOWNER carefully looks up and down Beechwood Drive before venturing across the empty street in Allview to talk to a neighbor.It isn't long before their conversation about tomato plants and a possible overnight frost is interrupted by the sound of an approaching car's engine being revved up into a higher gear.As he has done many times, Mr. Downer turns around and tries to catch the eye of the driver before he roars past. Mr. Downer sticks out both hands, palms down, and repeats a pushing motion toward the ground.

Ed Walter may be the most powerful man in Howard County politics -- but he's not the county executive or even an elected official. He's the county's traffic engineer, its purveyor of traffic signals, lane markers and speed humps.Insignificant by themselves, these traffic devices collectively carry the weight of public opinion and, many believe, the difference at the ballot box.Middle income or wealthy, Geo or Jaguar owner, all citizens who drive, cross the street or send children to school have to put up with the frustrations -- and perils -- of neighborhood traffic.

The asphalt diet has begun in Howard County.Following a growing national and international trend, county planners are asking developers of residential projects to build narrower roads with steeper grades with the goal of slowing speeding drivers.The move is a tacit concession that the previous assumption -- that building wider, flatter roads would lead to safer driving and fewer accidents -- was wrong."America has always been a country where bigger is better," said Jeffrey L. Soule, policy director for the American Planning Association, a Washington-based research organization of planners, lawmakers and citizens.

A water main break during the weekend forced the closing of the intersection of Cedarcroft Road and Northwood Drive in Northeast Baltimore until the end of the week, a spokesman for the city Department of Public Works said.Kurt Kocher, the spokesman, said that the underground break was quickly repaired but it caused part of the intersection to collapse.Kocher said detour signs have been placed at the intersection to direct vehicles to other routes.Also yesterday, work began on a $1.4 million project to improve Homeland Avenue between Charles Street and York Road in North Baltimore, Kocher said.