Woodbury Affirms: Residents To Pay For Traffic-Calming Efforts

Woodbury resident Rod Ough says it doesn’t make sense for residents to pay all the costs for measures to curb speeding in city neighborhoods.

The Woodcrest Drive resident spoke during Wednesday’s City Council meeting, asking the city to reconsider a revision to its traffic-calming policy that now requires those who live in the affected areas to pay for things like mini traffic circles, island bypasses or temporary speed signs.

“This is not right,” said Ough, who asked that the item be pulled from the council’s consent agenda.

But it’s not generally cut-through traffic causing the concern, Councilman Paul Rebholz said.

“The people that are speeding are your neighbors,” he said.

The policy used to state that the city “may” provide some funds for traffic-calming projects, City Engineer Klayton Eckles said.

“It clouded the issue,” he said.

The city was merely “tweaking” the policy, Eckles said. The other changes included removing speed humps as an option and adding driver-feedback signs to the city's traffic-calming toolbox.

City Administrator Clint Gridley noted that the city has often discussed its traffic-calming policy and has tried to create a measure that applies to all situations.

“This is a broad policy,” he said.

The big thing for Rebholz is simply educating residents about speeding. Too often people turn off of Valley Creek Road—where the posted speed limit is 50 mph but people generally drive 60-65—and head onto a residential street where the speed limit is 30 and don’t reduce their speed, he said.

“We just need to get everybody to slow down,” Rebholz said.

The council in May . The measure passed 5-0 on Wednesday night.