Bump on Sterling gone

Subject: Re: Bump on Sterling gone

pjsson wrote: A few weeks ago they added a bump to Sterling between underhill and Wandy to slow down cars going down it. But like a week or so ago they removed it again, anyone know why?

Simple: your tax dollars at work.

On Sun 8/13 some local politician was driving too fast down the street and scraped up his car on the bump. That same day a work crew came and lowered it.

dailyheights wrote: so is it lowered or completely removed?

it was lowered. It's definitely still there, and still requires that you slow down, but is not nearly as severe as before.

It was very excessively extreme. Glad they modified it.

Wait... I can't believe we are sitting here talking about a speed bump.

](*,) ](*,)

Subject: Re: Bump on Sterling gone

pjsson wrote: A few weeks ago they added a bump

One question: does everyone here call it a 'bump'? I thought 'bump' was what it does, and 'hump' is what it is...

I think they are two different things. Speed bumps are the ones that are in the picture Carnivore posted, and are fairly narrow and high enough for you to have to slow down to get over. Speed humps are much wider (about 3 feet) and are built to look more like a rise in the pavement than an obstruction.

Whatever you call them they are hell on your car if you don't slow down. I also heard that if you live on a street with a lot of truck traffic the constant pounding damages the building foundations, but I don't know if that it true or not.

WhyFi wrote: [quote=homeowner]Speed bumps are the ones that are in the picture Carnivore posted, and are fairly narrow and high enough for you to have to slow down to get over.

For those, they're actually not an obstacle at all if you don't slow down. Above 20 mph, you wouldn't notice them any more than you would a seam on a bridge. Well, if your suspension isn't on it's last leg.

Depends on whether is a bump or a hump, taking a hump too fast could send you airborn (did I just say that?, ackk, slap me)

whatever you want to call it, it was useful before, if a bit extreme. it definitely made you slow down. i was hoping they'd put one or two on park place expressway.

but the modified version is useless.

if bewitched is right, i'd sure like to know who the politician was whose anger at his own stupidity caused the removal of the only significant traffic-calming device in the hood.

as to the city department that caved on this, they should just do it right. the original was too high, the current one pointless. don't they have engineers who tell them how high to make these things so they do the job?

Subject: Re: Bump on Sterling gone

sweet tea wrote: [quote=Carnivore]
Seriously, though, it's called a speed bump in American English.

in chicago, the signs all say "speed hump"

which sounds like an imperative.

and makes me giggle.

and reminds me of the time the new spanish teacher at my high school foolishly decided to show a movie she hadn't watched first. and thought the first sex scene was an aberration. and decided to hit fast forward. which did not make her class calm down, especially as it became more speedily graphic.

I know this adds nothing to the discussion but I now cannot get the Fergie song Lady Humps out of my mind

sorry to post right after my own post, but i am hoping that this thread will get bumped (so to speak) back up and people who thought they had read all they wanted to about a speed bump will reconsider and check this out.

please allow me to recap briefly:

1. the east-west streets in the heights have become raceways and are dangerous to pedestrians, cyclists, parked cars and pets, and are extremely noisy all night long (as anyone whose bedroom window faces the street knows).

2. the speed bump on sterling was the only real traffic calming device in the neighborhood.

3. it was removed--or at least lowered to the point of total ineffectiveness--possibly for reasons that have been suggested above.

4. for the sake of a better neighborhood, the sterling speed bump should be reinstated and another one should be added to park place. at least. if the previous one was too high, the solution is not to remove it completely. certainly our fine city engineers know how to construct an effective speed bump.

5. the city will do this is enough people write in. a letter from a block association or grop is even better. unfortunately, you can't do this by phone or e-mail. it requires an envelope and a 39-cent stamp and takes about two minutes. see previous post for address.

thanks.

Smokin Joe, I'd urge you to do a little more homework on this before starting up a letter writing campaign. Our block association had a discussion about getting a speed bump installed and one of the key factors that was discussed was if there was a potential for damage to the foundations from excessive truck traffic. It was enough of a concern that no one wanted to volunteer to have the hump placed in front of their house.

Also, look at other calming methods such as altering the timing of the lights on the east west blocks. Because those blocks are so long, people tend to speed to make the green lights. Altering the light timing might change that behavior. You may want to reach out to DOT to get some input from them as well.