Speeding along North 62nd Street remains a concern for Temple Terrace residents, and while city officials appeared ready to approve one speed hump for the corridor, the City Council now wants staff to reconsider whether one is actually enough.
The council unanimously voted this month to take a second look at the possibility of adding another speed hump along 62nd Street between Fowler Avenue and East 113th Avenue, as some residents said excessive speeds pose a safety risk, particularly near Linwood Park and its playground.
Public Works operations director Jason Warrenfeltz presented the findings of a traffic and engineering evaluation conducted in response to a resident petition filed over the summer. The study analyzed vehicle speeds, traffic volumes, crash history, roadway geometry and compliance with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, or MUTC, the national standard governing roadway signage and traffic-calming measures.
Data collected between Aug. 28 and Sept. 2 showed vehicles traveling at an average speed of 41.9 mph in the 85th percentile, well above the posted 25-mph speed limit.
“That confirmed the potential safety risk for pedestrians, bicyclists and the other neighborhood traffic,” Warrenfeltz said, clearing the way for a recommendation for a traffic calming device.
City staff worked with the Temple Terrace Police Department to collect speed data, review historical trends and assess roadway conditions before determining that one speed hump met current engineering standards. Warrenfeltz said placement options are limited by regulations that prohibit speed humps near driveways, intersections and roadway access points. Under those guidelines, speed humps must be located at least 750 feet from intersections and driveways.
Those constraints led to the recommendation of a single speed hump for the street.
Some residents, however, urged the council to push for more.
Stephanie Arthur, a North 62nd Street resident and assistant professor at the University of South Florida, praised the city’s efforts but said she was disappointed only one speed hump was proposed. Arthur also questioned its placement, which she said was closer to Fowler Avenue on the north end of 62nd Street rather than the southern end near 113th Avenue, where she said cars rounding the corner on 113th near Linwood Park present a greater risk to children in the area.
“There is a crosswalk, there are children playing, (and) there is no parking lot at the playground,” Arthur said. “There’s been multiple times when I have observed children in the street just kind of toddling around. And we have cars coming from 113th rounding the corner and we’re all in a hurry, and they need to get to Fowler as quickly as possible. So the position of the single speed hump closer to Fowler, that’s not going to do anything to address the issue of the car speeding past the children’s playground.”
Sam Crawford, another resident from the area, echoed those concerns.
“One (hump), we do not think, will resolve the issue. Two or three, maybe would resolve the issue,” he said. “And I understand there’s placement issues and regulations with how far from driveways and entrances that speed bumps could be placed, but the park is like a major attraction.”
Warrenfeltz said the proposed speed hump is closer to the residential portion of the street but did say it was still slightly closer to the south end than it is to Fowler.
He added that speed humps installed on other city roads, including Sunnyside and Ridgedale, have proven effective due to their height and design, and despite the concerns of a single speed hump, he expected similar results on 62nd.
But council members had some of the same questions residents did regarding location and the possible flexibility in the MUTCD standards that might open the door for an additional calming device.
“We need more than one,” council member Gil Schisler said.
While the council stopped short of requiring the city to add another, perhaps running afoul of the MUTCD, it did unanimously vote to have staff take another look at their findings and see if there is an opportunity to add a second speed hump and return to council within two months.
Until then, council member James Chambers reminded people that the council has been working for years to stop speeding in Temple Terrace, even hiring four new police officers for a traffic unit to assist in those efforts, but ultimately, “We just need to slow down.”
