Agree. One in particular (closed to N. Hills Dr) will rattle your teeth at 15 MPH.

Obviously I think many people who have problems with the speed humps either A. Speed or B. don't live on a street where cars fly through at 50 mph after school and work. I, for one, am very happy where all of these have been installed. Everyday when walking I see folks completely ignore the speed bump sign and hit them going to fast- oh well. I'd rather folks slow down than run over an innocent pedestrian who actually lives in the neighborhood. Our neighborhood streets are not for shortcuts to/from school & work. Secondly, just slow down; it's that simple.

The road surface at th speed bump nearest North Hills needs to be re-paved.

I live off of North Hills and the reason I go up Northbrook is the get to North Hills. That is the most direct route. The reason people cut through the neighborhoods is because the City of Raleigh has made such a mess of traffic by over-controlling. Who wants to live were there are speed bumps on every road?

All of the neighbors I know (Shelley rd & Wimbleton) are happy to have the speed bumps. People speed and it's dangerous. There's a school on Northbrook and speeding has been a constant issue in that area. Go on a walk after work, you'll see.

If speeding is such a problem on Northbrook, I would think the City of Raleigh would make that a revenue source and place officers there 24/7.

I have three sports cars, one of which I am sure would not be able to cross these humps without dragging its underside. So, after living one house away from Northbrook for 28 years, I can no longer use it to get to Six Forks.

I've referred this to our Public Works Department. When the staff has had a chance to respond I’ll post an update. Thanks for reporting.

When someone gets car damage from these bumps and sues the City then maybe something will get done.

I just feel so terrible for the "three sports cars" owner. Sue the city? What a waste of energy....just slow down. The speed hump nearest N. Hills was already repaired.

If your car is that low, you probably have issues everywhere....driveways, parking lots, etc. My camaro certainly does. You should be used to it.

The "repair" to the hump nearest North Hills Drive was to the sunken street, not the hump. There are enough cratered streets in Raleigh to soak up any excess funds the city has without creating traffic impediments.

Bottom line is that the city streets need to be drivable and Northbrook is not.

Why waste taxpayer dollars on these unneeded and poorly designed humps? Get rid of them and NEVER "build" amother one!!

It does not matter how low a car is. We should be able to drive whatever we own on any city street. I happen to drive a minivan. I must travel this street every day or weave through more residential streets. This will add to the wear and tear of that car too in the way of shocks and brakes.

Still no answer on why Northbrook was considered when the traffic count was over the limit of 4,000 / day! Also, the rebar and barricades are waiting in front of the school. I believe installing a speed table there amounts to adding insult to injury for those of us with enough sense to challenge the city's traffic calming program. Mr. Fiorello, you must know that you will be held accountable for ruining this street.

Neal, I wrote the Mayor and the City Council today about this. I also contacted Kane realty (the people who own North Hills).
I contacted Kane becasue I believe eventually this will have a negative effect on the sucess of North Hills.
Bonner Gaylord has people checking into this. I encourage you to write as well.

Good! The council needs to get control of this "Traffic Calming"" program. I am sending in my Request form by Tuesday to speak to the council on March 19.

The speed humps are a welcome addition to the neighborhood. Thank you Raleigh for leadership in having them installed.

Adam, I'm afraid your sentiments are not shared by others in the neighborhood.

John, I'm afraid his sentiments ARE shared by others in the neighborhood. You can tell from the comments above which of our neighbors are the ones who speed through residential streets putting pedestrians, children, & school crossings in danger of an unfortunate accident. Just slow down, it's that simple. Everyone I have spoken with (Wimbledon, Shelley, Northbrook) are very glad to have the speed bumps in the area. All this talk of writing the mayor, car counts, etc, is so silly. Kane Realty wanted the pedestrian cross walk including the button that IMMEDIATELY changes the light on Lassiter to red to allow folks to cross the street! North Hills encourages pedestrian traffic as parking is limited- so good luck convincing them that speeding traffic in the area would be better than speed bumps. I don't get why folks cant just SLOW DOWN. At the end of the day the speed bumps are here and I am very doubtful they will be removed.

from your letter on another post: "Northbrook Drive was evaluated in 2007 and earned a score of 51.12 points. This score placed it 9th on the 2010 minor project list. That was high enough to be considered for traffic calming. The first step was for the properties along the street to support a project. A petition was sent out to be circulated along the street. The residents had 60 days to gather signatures from at least 75% of the properties listed and return the petition. That petition was returned and a public workshop was scheduled for the citizens along Northbrook who were shown what types of treatments were available. The citizens then decided what treatments they preferred and worked with staff to place them along the street. This became the preliminary design."
END OF STORY!!!

MB. You folks need to think about how this sort of thing affects your property values.

The end of the story is this: Northbrook is a main road for thousands daily and the main route to North Hills. More people in the neighborhood should have been involved. The more you people give into the city with this crap, the more they will impede your ability to move through the city.

This is not the end of story, believe me! The city must get control of this program. I truly think you people who profess to like these humps must either not drive Northbtook or be illiterate. As I have pointed out, the city published a 4,000 car / day limit for a street to be considered, then it was IGNORED in order to dupe those along Northbrook into signing a petition.

Over control of traffic in Raleigh is the biggest problem the city has. There is no other place I have ever driven where traffic is forced to stop at almost every light on a major thoroughfare so 1 car can come out.

Yes - Please go to City Council and demand that they remove something that they approved after holding a public hearing on the issue... While you are there explain that the complaints of speeding along the roadway and in the school zone were un-warrented despite what the traffic studies uncovered... The reason that the city has to "over control" the traffic is that many drivers in Raleigh are out of control when it comes to speeding.

Thanks for pointing out another problem with the city's out-of-control "traffic calming" program. Those of us living near but not on Northbrook were never notified of the public hearings, which is also a requirement. Do you think one house away is too far to be affected? Since you ask so nicely, I will be sure to mention that also during my three minutes.

Well, it has been 3 weeks since the city staff acknowledged my complaint and promised an update. Maybe the response is proceeding with the raised crosswalk in front of the school. Although it seems to be well constructed and relatively benign, it is in fact also in violation of the city's guidelines, see above. It was created over the last weekend, in spite of the obvious prudent response to our concerns, which would have been to cancel it. This is adding insult to injury.

Neal What is the traffic count on Northbrook? Email me johnhinnc@yahoo.com
John

For all the residentson Northbrook who wanted speed humps, Think again.
Read this:
http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20030428_speedbump.htm

I am on the City Council agenda for Tuesday, March 19. I will be trying to convince them to undo the disaster on Northbrook. Any of you who feel like attending (even you whiners, you might learn something), please do. Any support in the form of polite applause would be especially welcome.

MB:
I have to disagree with : "You can tell from the comments above which of our neighbors are the ones who speed through residential streets putting pedestrians, children, & school crossings in danger of an unfortunate accident. Just slow down, it's that simple. Everyone I have spoken with (Wimbledon, Shelley, Northbrook) are very glad to have the speed bumps in the area. "

I am NOT a person who speeds, Never have been, never will be. I do respect children, slow down in school zones, watch out for pedestrians, cyclists, and squirrels. I do object to the totally unnecessary addition to wear and tear on our vehicles. At the times of day I travel the road, excessive speed has never been an issue.

First of all let me repeat again: these bumps were installed illegally based on the traffic counts. Secondly, you supporters had better do a little research on how these things affect property values, increase pollution, do not make the road safer etc. Thirdly, I have lived in this neighborhood for 22 years and the only speeding I have ever seen on that road was done by the school busses. You people need to walk that sidewalk and take note of how many signs have been installed from North Hills up to Pamilco. It really looks bad. If I were looking to buy a home this would be a deal breaker for me.

I do not live in the area but travel the road in question driving from North Raleigh to visit people in the neighborhood. I drive a Jaguar that is low on its axels and will not travel over the humps without causing severe and expensive damage to the under carriage of my vehicle. Is the city or the people who wanted these humps willing to pay for the damage that I would incur if I passed over these monstrosities called "speed bumps"??? I think not!!!!!

J, Agner, concerned citizens

Well, we have the City Council's attention now. Good coverage of the issue and my address to the Council today by WNCN. I followed up with e-mail to the entire Council pointing out that Fiorello proposes to replace the hump nearest North Hills Drive after fixing the street. He says that the 4120 vs 4000 limit will take care of itself because the humps will reduce traffic to below 4000. What kind of self-serving, bogus logic is that? Only more pressure will make the City remove the humps.

How much abuse can the Traffic Calming program absorb? Public humiliation hasn't yet forced them to do the right thing and quietly remove the humps. The City Council needs to step up. Nice coverage in the N&O, sort of makes you wonder what motivates the City to be so stubborn.

Contrary to a prior guest comment, the attempts to repair the speed bump nearest North Hills Drive were unsuccessful; immediately after the crossing the bump, heading west, you hit two or three depressions in the attempted repairs. Furthermore, the location of the bump is hidden from view until you are too close to it; this is true for both directions and the warning sign of 25 MPH overstates the safe speed to cross the bump.

These humps need to be removed and the only way to get this to happen is to write the town council everyday.

Has anyone else noticed that the promised update (see above) from the Public Works Department staff is still missing? I know they are very busy ruining other streets, but I think 7 weeks is long enough to officially post an official defense, even if their actions are indefensible.

They are not going to do anything until a lawyer threatens action. Personnally, (and this is awful to say), I can't wait for that first accident on North brook because due to the speed humps.

I live in North Hills directly off Northbrook and I'm all for the speed bumps. My children go to the elementary school located on Northbrook and I frequently walk my dog on the sidewalks located along Northbrook. Frankly, I'm tired of seeing speeders race down Northbrook likes it's a NASCAR track. If the bumps do damage to your fancy cars, then cry me a river. Better your stupid cars then a child.

Well KD here is how those bumps have changed my driving patterns. I now turn off of Northbrook and take 2 other streets in your neighborhood just to avoid those bumps. It is quicker for me becaue I don't have to slow down. I bet you live on one of those streets so howdy neighbor. In all seriousnees, if speeding had been such a problem on Northbrook then the city should have stationed police there until the problem was resolved. I've lived at the same address for 22 years and travel that road daily and have never seen an issue like you are claiming to have seen. If my car is stupid, your car is more stupid.

KD, I appreciate your viewpoint, but that is why there are school zones. I have lived in the same house and used Northbrook for over 28 years, including for walking. I have never had a speeding ticket in Raleigh, in spite of my fancy cars. I did not object to lowering the speed limit on Northbrook to 30 from 35. The humps, however, only make the street worse, and not a bit safer for anyone. I was able to bring the city to task for exceeding their own rules for traffic volume, and I believe a street having over 4,000 cars / day is obviously not a local byway, but a major traffic artery where drivers should not have to slow down to less than half the speed limit 3 times just to get from North Hills Drive to Six Forks.

KD, another thing you and your fellow supporters need to think about is how this is affecting your property values and the fact this may also be taking something away from North Hills. Face it, if North Hills fails your property values fall.

Dear Johnhinnc I seriously doubt the speed bumps will affect my property value. If anything they will increase it. A number of houses in the neighborhood have sold in one or two days in the last few weeks (after the speed bumps were implemented). Those buyers? Mostly young families with young children. How you gonna feel when you race through our neighborhood and hit one of those children just so you get where you need to go 20-30 seconds faster? My car does not have a brain but I can assure you, you don't either (or any common sense.)

KD, I think it's clear who is missing a brain here.

Well Johnhinnc, if that's all you can come up with for a retort, you're right, it is clear.

well johnhinnc if I see you speeding through my neighborhood at more than 25 mph I'll be calling the RPD just as I have done for other speeding neighbors and I'll get your license plate number. How you gonna feel when you hit one of the many children playing in our ever younger neighborhood? The police have been stationed on Northbrook during school opening/release times and other times but it's done nothing to slow down the speeders. I'm no radar but I can tell when a car is exceeding the 30 MPH on Northbrook or 25 MPH on the rest of North Hills neighborhood subdivision streets. My car does not have brain but I can assure you, you don't either (or a bit of common sense.)

KD get a life because from where I sit you are a total waste of skin.

Guys, let's stop this before I have to remove the whole thread.

Ben Westermann-Clark ..... BEFORE removing this thread, PLEASE resolve the issue that was raised by this thread originally.

Hey Charles,

Sorry for the confusion. I work at SeeClickFix, not the city of Raleigh. SeeClickFix is the tech platform that citizens and cities use to communicate with one another--I don't actually have any power over public works.

What I commented on was the degrading nature of the discussion. If we can't stay on topic without insulting one another, unfortunately I have to remove the thread. It's good to remember that we're all here for the same reason: to improve our neighborhoods.

We may disagree on how to do that, but it's important to remain respectful whenever possible and stay on the issues, not each other.

I concur, there is enough controversy aroused by my original post. There can be disagreement without being disagreeable.

I concur also.

This response is being posted to Raleigh SCF issues 416140 (Non-conforming Speed Humps) and 428068 (Speed Bumps too Aggressive), which are identical reports of the same issue related to the citizen initiated and city-installed traffic calming measures along Northbrook Drive, a project of the City’s Neighborhood Traffic Management Program (NTMP).

Speed compliance has long been an issue on Northbrook Drive, especially in the vicinity of Brooks Elementary School. Initial contact with the City’s Public Works department regarding Northbrook Drive came from the Raleigh Police Department, on behalf of Brooks Elementary administration, seeking a long term fix rather than a temporary solution to the Northbrook speeding problem. This inquiry took place in November 2005. When Northbrook Drive was subsequently evaluated for traffic calming measures, it earned a score of 51.12 points, well above the 30 point minimum required to be placed on the list for traffic calming initiatives. The high volume was 4120 vehicles per day and the high 85th% speed was 40.0 miles per hour. When the first NTMP project list was presented to the City Council in September 2010, Northbrook was ranked ninth on the minor project list. If it had been placed on the major project list this street would have ranked 20th and perhaps not have come up for consideration. However, Northbrook Drive remained on the minor project list, and residents were given the opportunity to provide input to staff as to a speeding and safety problem on this street that needed to be addressed. Residents did so by executing and submitting a petition of support for a project, and the initiative moved forward through the NTMP program.

The NTMP is a citizen driven program. At the first workshop, attendees approved a preliminary design consisting of seven (7) speed humps and the raised crosswalk at the school. That preliminary design was posted to the City website, marked in paint on the street, and design comments were solicited from residents along the street. At a second workshop the design comments were discussed and the preliminary design was reduced by consensus of the residents in attendance to three (3) speed humps and the raised crosswalk feature. This design concept was approved by the residents in attendance. The design was presented to the City Council for approval and installation.

Following construction and installation, it has been determined that subsurface pavement failure is taking place in the westbound lane of Northbrook Drive in the area of the speed hump closest to North Hills Drive. Staff is in the process of executing a contract Change Order to repair this area of pavement failure. Once approved the contractor will schedule a crew to perform the pavement and speed hump repair. While onsite and as part of the contract work, and in response to the comments posted to SeeClickFix and comments made to the City Council, staff will have the contractor and city inspectors measure and re-verify all speed hump installations on Northbrook Drive to confirm that heights are within the allowable design tolerances. Any speed humps found to be installed outside of tolerance will be adjusted to bring them within design tolerance.

We appreciate all of the input and comments on these two SeeClickFix issues. This remains a work in progress, which includes repair and potential remediation of the installed traffic calming features. The ongoing work is being tracked by our Public Works department and therefore we are closing both issues (416140 and 428068) in SeeClickFix.

You still have not addressed nor answered the fundamental question! That is; if the traffic count in 2005 was 120 over the City of Raleigh criteria (probably much higher now with all the building improvements in the North Hills area) how can the speed humps even be constructed?? Have you done a recent count?? How on earth did you come up with 40mph number? Were radar guns installed up and down the street? Never saw any - did see some counters. All your answers about height, width, road defects etc. are purely mute until you answer the fundamental question of traffic COUNT!!
Ed

First of alll, a period of 5 years passed before this was taken to the city council. Clearly a re-study should have taken place. By the city's own rules, the speed humpswere installed illegally. Secondly, you, the city, only solicited input from the residents of Northbrook. Northbrook like any other city street is the property of all the citizens of Raleigh and not just those living on Northbrook. The hump in front of the school is one I have no problem with. It is criminal what the city has done to this neighborhood and especially what was done to Shelly road.

Another explanation for the speed humps being installed illegally is that someone on Northbrook is lining the pockets of someone who works for the city. Raleigh is too obsessed with trying to over control movement through the city.

One more comment please. Not only is this speed hump issue eating at me, the city has passed an ordinance that permits people in the city to own goats. What the heck is this town council thinking? If someone who lives on Harvey street (for example) would just buy a couple of goats, this ordinance would be abolished immediately.

Again, this is one of three (3) separate reports opened for the same identical issue (Northbrook Drive traffic calming installation) Closing this issue in SeeClickFix.

Folks, FYI, opening multiple issues on the same subject matter is not going to change any eventual outcomes. Opening multiple issues only makes tracking and responding appropriately, and in a timely manner, a more complicated task.
With regard to Northbrook Drive traffic calming, the Raleigh City Council approved the citizen petition for participation in the Neighborhood Traffic Management Program, the final design was approved and funds appropriated for the project, there were no illegal or inappropriate decisions made.

Thanks to everyone for the interest and engagement in this topic. Re-closing issue in SeeClickFix.

Louis M. Buonpane
Office of the City Manager
(919) 996-3070

The 3 issues were opened by 3 seperate citizens, which sould tell you something about the veracity of the objections. I was the first, and saying that no inappropriate decisions were made is whistling in the dark.

I'm with Neal on this. The city has made a costly mistake that needs to be corrected.

WHY don't you ANSWER THE FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION??????? TRAFFIC COUNT! USPS AND THE VARIOUS FIRST RESPONDERS ARE CERTAINLY AGAINST THESE TRAFFIC LUMPS!!!

Don't like the speed humps? Go a different way. Problem solved.

I stated that the 3 different reports were opened for the same issue, Northbrook Drive traffic calming installation.

Re-closing this issue in SeeClickFix, as it is being addressed by our Public Works staff, which is described in detail in the last update to the issue.

Louis M. Buonpane
Office of the City Manager
(919) 996-3070

Multiple reports are just part of the business. If a traffic light malfunctions it may be reported by many people.

That is the 64,000 dollar question. Why were these humps installed contrary to the city's own rules? This just reeks of underhandedness.

Submissiveness is not a trait of Americans ncjks.

Louis, you just don't get it. The Public Works staff IS the problem. They can address it all they want, but only removal will satisfy those of us who insist on due process in expending our tax dollars..

Seriously...

Removal is the only right thing to do. The city made a mistake and they need to admit it and take those humps out.