The Chainlink

the plague of speed humps

I was inspired by Gin's discussion thread about Humboldt Park traffic calming and thought I'd talk about speed humps in general.  I don't feel that speed humps are a very good traffic calming solution overall, because so many drivers speed up between the humps to make up for the time they lost by slowing for the humps.  I often see more road rage behavior in these locations compared to the pre-speed hump configuration.  I've seen this kind of behavior many, many times on Glenwood through Edgewater.

 

If we're going to have traffic calming, shouldn't it be done in such a way to make the street *more* desirable to cyclists instead of a literal pain in the butt?  Some formerly good bike streets have become a lot less pleasant to ride over the last several years due to the proliferation of speed humps.  On the north side, Glenwood and many east-west side streets in Uptown and Edgewater are good examples of this.  From Logan Square heading west, Wrightwood used to be a good route to Montclare, Galewood and Oak Park, until it was marred by a ridiculous number of tall speed humps (often 2-3 per block), turning into a torture-fest.  We don't need to ruin good bike routes.  In some areas, we don't have enough good routes to begin with, especially going west to Oak Park.

 

One of the ideas suggested in that discussion was having a center cut through the speed hump to allow bike passage, as is done in some alleys.  If we have cut-throughs for bikes, this gives bikes an advantage and can incentivize bike use in locations like this.  Even without a full bike boulevard implementation, this change could turn a lot of currently annoying streets into better bike routes.

 

What do you think?

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Permalink Reply by Sam S on May 25, 2011 at 4:57pm
I enjoy taking speed bumps at full speed on my mountain bike (with front suspension). That bike just glides over them! But that's about all I like about them. For every other occasion and every other bike, they are annoying.
Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on May 25, 2011 at 7:54pm
They are a blast on a motorcycle.  You can get some sick air on them if you hit them just right.   Then again I used to race motocross and Enduros so maybe I'm not your average motorcyclist.  On a non-suspended bicycle they generally just suck.
Permalink Reply by Sol on May 26, 2011 at 1:08am
I live in Edgewater, home of the highest concentration of traffic calming. In my experience, the speed humps are the only thing which has slowed the traffic on my side street, Elmdale. I'm not a fan of the traffic circles and pinch points because they don't slow the traffic and the do cause a reduction in street parking. I don't love the speed humps when on my bike, but I will deal with them and would not want them removed from my block. People used to drive fifty mph down my block and blow off the stop signs. The speed humps help have stopped that from happening. I do wish they were better maintained, but alas the city always installs new infrastructure without any budget for maintaining it (i.e. Streetscaping).
Permalink Reply by Gin on May 30, 2011 at 9:01am

I just learned that the mayor of our block (long time community activist) has been gathering signatures to put speed humps on our little stretch of McLean. Argh!!!!

 

The more streets they go into, the more other blocks want them. People are sick of speeding cars on residential streets. I do understand the desire to bring speeds down.

 

Anne, let's get a letter into CDOT/new CDOT commissioner/Active Trans requesting info on what our options are and how we achieve calmer streets w/o degrading the cycling environment, complicating emergency responses, adding noise, etc. Are you willing to take a crack at a first draft?

Permalink Reply by Gin on May 30, 2011 at 9:05am

Another angle I am playing with is--if we are going to speed bumpify our residential streets, then we need to do a better job of making our collectors and arterials bike friendly. This is why I am so disappointed about what's happening in Humboldt Park: speed humps on Marin, and no bike accommodations in the "road diet" going through the park on Humboldt.

 

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on May 30, 2011 at 4:26pm
Gin, I agree with the points you're making.  I'll see what I can come up with this week for a first draft and send it to you.

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