The smell of burning rubber on Tour Avenue came not from a speeding car but from a speed bump Chandra Watson (pictured) was putting in place Tuesday, as New Haven’s traffic-calming campaign moved to the west side of town. Watson wasn’t sure her work would make a difference.
Watson and the rest of the crew from Laydon Industries came to Tour Avenue, a one-block street off Whalley Avenue in Westville Village, to install the bump in response to neighbors complaining about speeders and drunken car-crashers spilling out of area bars.
This is the third spot where the city’s traffic department has installed bumps in an effort to slow down drivers.
“If they’re drunk,” Watson, who’s 36, reasoned as she drilled into the rubber bump Wednesday, “they’re still going to hit the curb when they come out of the club. You’re laughing? I’m serious.”
Actually, the city, too, isn’t positive the bump will solve the problem. That’s why this speed bump — like two recently installed on Perkins Street in Fair Haven — is temporary. (Another bump, placed on the infamous speedway known as Woodward Avenue in the Annex, was installed permanently, a no-brainer.)
City traffic czar Mike Piscitelli (pictured) said the city measured driving speeds on the street before installing the temporary bump Wednesday. It plans to measure again in coming weeks in order to decide whether installing a permanent bump makes sense.
Neighbors were pleased with the action. They returned to the block where last December they led officials on a Tour Avenue tour, and received promises of help. (Click here to read all about that.)
“We should have these all over the city,” said neighborhood activist Gabriel DaSilva.
Joanne Sciulli, who lives on West Rock Avenue right around the corner from Tour Avenue, suggested that a bump might work better by “the hit spot” on her block where late-night carousers inevitably plow into parked cars..
Piscitelli said the newly paved stretch of Tour Avenue where the bump was placed “is where the speed picks up. Then people fly around the corner.”
Mayor DeStefano appeared at a press event accompanying the new bump along with neighborhood Alderman Tom Lehtonen and Fair haven Alderwoman Erin Sturgis-Pascale, who has spearheaded the citywide traffic-calming campaign. (Click here to read about that.)
“It might be sexy to go after people with guns,” but speeders and generally “aggressive drivers” also wreak havoc on communities, said the alderwoman (on whose shoulders daughter Brynia is pictured perched).