Boston mayor, Michelle Wu, has announced the city’s plans to combat speeding drivers: speed humps, and a whole lot of them. The plan, which was outlined to residents and reporters earlier in the week, will also include the redesigning of intersections and updating some traffic signals to prevent drivers from turning right on red.
The “Safety Surge” program has identified up to 400 miles of city streets potentially eligible for speed humps. But for now, 10 zones will be built each year for the next three years. Each zone is prioritized based on crash history and resident demographics. This is because data shows that residents of color are more likely to experience traffic-related fatalities. Speed humps will be incorporated during road repaving, making it a part of the routine revamping of the city’s streets.
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“As more and more speeding cars race through our side streets, even front yards off the street are not completely safe for families and adults,” said Wu. “We’ve had situations in Boston as recent as this past week when someone sitting on their porch has had cars jump the curb and go into their front yard.”
The Dorchester Reporter notes that the new program comes off the back of a successful initial rollout of the Slow Streets initiative that saw speed humps added to three streets in an effort to determine whether the communities liked them and if snow plows could navigate them.
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Not all streets will be eligible for the speed humps, and that includes major throughfares, or any road that has a MBTA bus route on it.
Meanwhile, between 25–30 Boston intersections will be redesigned each year. The goal of the modifications will be to eliminate poor visibility, simply confusing intersections, and better segment different types of road users. In addition, reworking traffic signal guidelines and prohibiting drivers from turning right on red at certain junctions will be some of the methods used to improve pedestrian safety.
To find out which Boston streets are eligible and set to receive speed humps in the near future, click here.