East Washington's Speed Bumps Hit Bump In The Road With PennDOT
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EAST WASHINGTON (KDKA) -- Everyone seems to acknowledge folks were driving a bit too fast around East Washington before the speed bumps, and now, even with them in place, there's mixed reviews.
"For the most part, people still don't slow down for it," said Troy Freitag-Shaw, a borough resident.
To East Washington Borough, the speed bumps are all about safety and slowing people down.
"We have a large pedestrian population that likes to walk through the borough, and we just thought it was something that needed to be done after trying to address it in other ways," said East Washington Police Chief David Bradley.
Some residents who live near the bumps complain about the noise.
"People have ladder racks on their trucks, all hours of the night, they hit those things, they stop, they go over it, wakes you up," said Daniel Bird, of East Washington.
"It creates noise when the trucks go over it, and my wife sleeps a lot of times during the day cause she works night," Freitag-Shaw said.
But the noise issue is not what PennDOT is concerned about. PennDOT does not allow speed bumps on roads it helps fund; it only allows speed humps.
"We did everything to PennDOT specs, except for the hump itself," said Chief Bradley.
In fact, PennDOT has told East Washignton to remove the rubber bumps and replace them with asphalt gradual grade humps, or lose some state fundings.
The borough says not only are the bumps effective, other streets are requesting them. If East Washington doesn't blink, how much will it lose annually?
"Maybe $2,000 a year," Chief Bradley said.
