Woodbury Defines Its ‘Toolbox’ To Stop Speeders

If you’re among the Woodbury residents clamoring for the city to do something about speeders in your neighborhood, don’t expect speed humps, bumps or tables to be part of the solution.

But expect to pick up the tab if officials opt to construct a small traffic circle, island or other mechanism to slow down vehicles on city streets.

Those were the two main items settled Wednesday night, when the Woodbury City Council examined its traffic-calming policy. The discussion was part of a workshop after the council’s regular meeting. Staff will rework the policy based on Wednesday’s conversation and bring it back to the council for formal approval at a later date.

Among the measures the council decided to keep in its traffic-calming “toolbox” were mini traffic circles, island bypasses, temporary speed signs, raising pavement on the edges or roadways to reduce street widths, and chicanes (buffers on the sides and middle of a road to force motorists to change their course).

Council members also concluded that traffic-calming initiatives are neighborhood issues and the city shouldn’t use its typical two-thirds city, one-third residents formula for assessing the costs of such work. The previous policy stated that the city may contribute the first $10,000 for such projects, which Mayor Mary Giuliani Stephens and Councilwoman Amy Scoggins favored leaving in place.

The measures would generally be built in conjunction with roadway projects, not as stand-alone work, City Administrator Clint Gridley said. Also, the city's policy on reconstructing roads includes reducing widths of all neighborhood streets to 28 feet.

Still, for Councilman Paul Rebholz, the best measure to curb speeding is simply education. “People drive too fast,” he said, adding that street-design elements are also a big part of the equation. 

Rebholz also said part of the problem lies with what he sees as speed limits that are too high on county roads in Woodbury—people often travel up to 65 mph and turn off major streets into neighborhoods and have a hard time slowing down. He suggested the city send a formal resolution to Washington County officials asking them to consider reducing speed limits on county roads in the city.

“I think it’s high time that we force that issue with the county,” Rebholz said. “There’s no transition from the residential neighborhoods to the main thoroughfares, and that’s what we need.”

Chief Lee Vague attended Wednesday’s workshop and responded to questions about whether ticketing speeders is an effective deterrent. While tickets are “very punitive to the people that get caught,” speed traps and enhanced enforcement in certain areas doesn’t solve the problem, Vague said.

“It’s a very short-term fix,” he said.

Councilman Christopher Burns asked if the city could enact special speed-reduction zones where the cost of a ticket would be higher. Vague said the fine schedule is set by the county and there isn’t much room for change.

Despite the fact that council members further defined the traffic-calming policy, it doesn’t mean people will start seeing measures enacted anytime soon.

“We’ll have a nice toolbox,” City Engineer Klayton Eckles said. “We’re probably not going to use it very often.”