Debby Moorhead is the second council member that believes the time has come for Manteca to start deploying speed humps or speed tables on residential streets that are being plagued with speeding.
Moorhead — who has made addressing neighborhood traffic issues one of her top priorities in her 10 years on the council — believes the city would be justified deploying speed humps on Clear Water Creek Boulevard that serves as the main entrance to Union Ranch opposite of Del Webb in north Manteca.
Moorhead said data from a radar speed trailer parked for a period of time showed some drivers pushing 50 mph on the residential street.
The issue of street safety at the entrance to the neighborhood was brought to the council’s attention Tuesday by Union Ranch resident Emily Mulvihill who lives on the curve just inside the development
She told the council that speeding can be so bad that she has been forced to pull onto her own lawn backing up in her driveway to reduce the risk of her being hit.
Manteca Police Captain Tony Souza said the department will deploy motorcycle traffic officers to the area for targeted enforcement.
While Moorhead said such an effort would be appreciated, she is looking for a solution that doesn’t rely on the availability of traffic officers or police being at the right place at the right time.
She is advocating that the city start installing speed humps or speed tables on problematic streets to slow traffic.
uSpeed tables are traffic calming devices that raise the entire wheelbase of a vehicle to reduce its speed. They are usually longer than speed humps and are flat topped, typically with a height from 3 to 3.5 inches and a length of 22 feet.
uSpeed humps are also the same general height as speed tables and are generally a calming device that is longer than a speed bump and shorter than a speed table although some are 22 feet long. They create a gentle vehicle rocking motion resulting in slowing vehicles to 15 to 30 mph at the hump. With property spaced humps, speeds can be slowed to 25 to 30 mph between humps.
uSpeed jumps are abrupt raises in the pavement typical 3 to 6 inches with a length from three inches to three feet. They are rarely used on streets and are more effective in parking lots and private driveways as it impedes emergency response as vehicles are forced to slow to 5 mph or less.
Councilman Gary Singh has been pushing for speed humps or speed tables as well.
Singh has indicated city staff has been lukewarm — if that — to embracing speed humps for traffic control to enhance safety as the City of Stockton has done near August Knodt School in Weston Ranch and as other nearby cities have used on residential streets including Turlock and Lathrop.
The City of Manteca General Plan adopted on Oct. 6, 2003 to serve as a blueprint for growth and municipal policies addresses traffic calming devices. It states, “it is desirable to maintain traffic flow at safe speeds. This may be accomplished through ‘traffic calming’ measures.”
Those measures listed in the city’s Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program includes pavement markings, speed and warning signs, turn restrictions, street trees, chokers and bulb-outs, forced channelization, one-way streets, street closing, chicanes, traffic signals and traffic signals.
It does not specifically list speed humps althougth that can be changed by a majority vote of the council.
The traffic calming plan identifies streets where it might be necessary to limit the use of traffic calming devices in addition to not using them on arterial or collector streets. The program was adopted in September of 2000 that means 18 years of growth and new streets are not referenced.
Singh has said he favors speed humps that are made of various materials and not asphalt so they have more durabilty and could be fairly easily removed if there are second thoughts about their deployment at specific locations.
Moorhead has managed to persuade staff to recommend the council approve getting in place crosswalks, street markings and other traffic safety measures such as adjusting traffic signals. The highest profile example is Powers Avenue in front of Lincoln School where a three-way stop at Powers and Hutchings Street was added and travel lanes narrowed by stripping bicycle lanes closer to the travel lanes.
A similar effort with a crosswalk protected by flashers was put in place on Cottage Way at Brookdale Way after being championed by Mayor Steve DeBrum to address the safety for children walking to and from Joshua Cowell School.
Manteca hasn’t deployed the process outlined in the neighborhood traffic calming program since eliminating a position in the Public Works Department dedicated to traffic issues a decade ago. The last traffic specialist — Dave Vickers — would conduct a series of neighborhood meetings, listen to concerns, make observations and collect data and then present possible solutions at a follow up neighborhood meeting that were then taken to the council for consideration.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
A CALL FOR SPEED HUMPS
Moorhead latest to say Manteca needs to use them

