WEST SPRINGFIELD — Pine Street will be the next neighborhood to get speed humps, after a Town Council vote on Aug. 19. It won’t be the last.
Town crews will install the speed-control devices in front of 47 and 54 Pine St., and 105 and 108 Pine St. District 2 Councilor Michael LaFlamme, who represents Pine Street, said the two humps were requested by people living on the street, which runs between Kings Highway and Westfield Street (Route 20).
He said non-arterial streets can request speed humps with a petition signed by two-thirds of the residents. LaFlamme said St. Thomas Church, which faces Pine Street, also supported the request.
“With the support of the majority of the residents on that road, I’ll stand with them and vote in favor,” LaFlamme said.
The speed hump measure passed 7-0, with Councilor Anthony DiStefano absent and Council President Sean Powers abstaining from all votes that night, as he was serving as acting mayor at the time.
There are two other ways a street can get speed humps, LaFlamme said: It can be recommended by the town engineer, or it can be suggested by the Town Council’s Traffic Committee. No matter where the request originates, it must be voted by the Town Council.
Councilor Brian Griffin said the proliferation of speed humps in West Springfield is part of a strategy to cut down on speeding. He said the next candidate for speed humps is Chestnut Street, and that the Traffic Committee is looking at how to control speeds in the Ashley Street and Churchill and Harwich roads neighborhood near Mittineague Park, and Circle Drive. Narrower lanes and other anti-speeding measures are part of planned or ongoing roadwork on Elm Street, Memorial Avenue and Piper Road.
“You can see, in the next several weeks, that there’s a lot of things coming up that are going to be passed,” Griffin said. “You’re going to see, over the next probably year or year-and-a-half, a palpable difference in the speed in our community. It will go down, and we will save lives.”
Griffin also commended the West Springfield Police Department, which he said has stepped up its enforcement of speeding laws.
Town resident Melissa Hensen said the town needs to make sure devices installed to slow down drivers don’t end up making driving less safe. She drew attention to the corner of Elm and Garden streets, where sidewalk “bump-outs” narrow the roadway to make Elm Street drivers slow down as they approach the side street and crosswalk.
“It is almost impossible for a car to turn off of Elm Street to get onto Garden,” Hensen said. Leaving Garden Street, she added, “I’ve come face-to-face with cars. And if you’re driving a pickup truck, forget it.”
Griffin said people can bring their concerns about speeding and speed-control measures to the Traffic Committee.
