Mount Prospect may swap speed humps with colored asphalt
Mount Prospect may be getting over the hump in its approach to slowing traffic on South See Gwun Avenue.
About eight years after installing seven speed humps to address speeding and excessive traffic near the Mount Prospect Golf Club and Lincoln Middle School, officials are considering a new approach there.
Mount Prospect Traffic Engineer Matt Lawrie said studies have shown the humps lead to slower speeds and less traffic, but surrounding streets see an increase in traffic. Meanwhile, the fire department is concerned the humps slow down their emergency vehicles.
And while a resident survey showed 55 percent supported the street bumps, residents also complained that they are visually unappealing.
This week, village trustees heard a plan calling for the removal of the remaining speed humps — three already were removed recently as part of a sewer improvement project — and having them replaced with a textured, colored street print.
The idea is that the color contrast with the pavement will cause drivers to slow down.
“It looks like brick, but it is less than half of the cost,” Lawrie said.
The proposal also calls for speed feedback devices and replacing the roll curbing in the 700 block of South See Gwun with barrier curbing, to reduce the cars driving over or parking on the curb. The total cost of the project would be $230,000.
The village board will revisit the matter after staff looks at ways to keep the cost down.
The village has been down this road before. In 2011, staff developed a plan for a series of landscaped, mid-block medians 25-30 feet long for the two blocks between Golf Road and Lonnquist Boulevard.
However, the plan, was rejected amid concern about the loss of parking and the desire to see more done north of Lonnquist.
With the current proposal, Lawrie said the area of focus is a six-block stretch of See Gwun from Golf Road north to Lincoln Street.
Lawrie said the cost of installing stamped asphalt sections between Golf and Lincoln would probably be $150,000 to $160,000. Replacing the three speed humps would probably cost $10,000.
Some trustees were skeptical the stamped asphalt would slow drivers.
“Once people realize that it's just stamped asphalt, they're probably just going to go speeding through anyhow, because the speeders are probably the regular people who travel that route,” Trustee Richard Rogers said.
Trustee A. John Korn suggested leaving the existing speed humps and replacing the removed ones with the street print.
Trustee Paul Hoefert said he thinks the proposal has merit.
“I think it's a contemporary solution,” he said. “I do think people slow down when they see a change in pavement, even when you have driven over it before.”