It may soon be easier for Charlotte neighborhoods to get speed humps to help slow cars down in residential areas.
Current rules require 60% of homeowners in a neighborhood to sign petitions to get what the city calls traffic calming devices. The City Council’s Safe Communities Committee agreed last week to recommend a change to streamline the process.
Under the proposal, a request for speed humps would cause the city to mail cards to neighborhood residents asking them to cite any objections or issues. Staffers would try to work through those to move the process along.
“I’m certainly in favor and I imagine that the council would be probably in favor of trying to make a process like this easier on our constituents as opposed to it being a bit more onerous,” said City Council member Larken Egleston, who chairs the committee.
Only two-lane local residential streets with a speed limit already set to 25 mph are eligible. The process would be similar for requests to remove speed humps or appeal a decision. The proposal needs approval from the full City Council. It wasn't immediately clear when a full council vote would take place.
The city has a limited tool kit to slow cars in neighborhoods. It includes lowering speed limits and installing stop signs and speed humps.
