City tries out speed bumps on Church St.

By Brandi Makuski

Motorists on Church St. now have an extra incentive to slow down.

City streets crews on April 10 installed temporary speed bumps in two places; the crosswalk at Belts’ Soft Serve, and the Shaurette St. intersection.

The decision came from Mayor Mike Wiza, who said his office has the authority to install the temporary speed bumps and various other traffic-related elements.

Wiza said he worked with Police Chief Bob Kussow and Public Works Director Scott Beduhn on the project.

“We’ll see if they work, and if they work, we’ll look at something a little more permanent,” Wiza said. “If they work, then it’ll come before [the Board of Public Works].”

Wiza said the speed bumps were requested by “every single neighbor, and some of the business owners in the area.”

“They said, ‘Listen, we need to do something,’ People are crossing — they’re not always crossing in the crosswalk — but when motorists pull through there, they gun it. And we’ve seen it, we’ve had speed data that we’ve taken, so we thought about what we could do.”

Wiza added while the speed bumps may work on Church St., the city has speed problems throughout, and bumps aren’t practical to add in many places.

Wiza said the speed bumps cost “a couple thousand [dollars] each” and will be removed in the fall to accommodate city plow trucks.