Queen Street Speed Tables

Set For Traffic Experiment

By Andrew Gorosko

Some people may like them. Some people may hate them. Time will tell, town officials say.

The “them” to which they refer are two temporary “speed tables” that town workers this week bolted into the pavement of Queen Street, north of its intersection with Lovell’s Lane, and also south of its intersection with Borough Lane.

The hard-rubber devices, which are broader than typical speed bumps, are part of a two-month experiment in “traffic calming” on the residential southern section of Queen Street. The northern section of the street contains mostly businesses and Newtown Middle School.  

Although the posted speed limit on Queen Street is 25 miles per hour, Queen Street area residents for more than a decade complained to the Police Commission about speeding problems there, especially on Queen Street between its intersections with Glover Avenue and Mile Hill Road. The Police Commission is the local traffic authority.

Police Commission members recently endorsed a past Police Commission decision to install speed tables on southern Queen Street.

If the devices prove workable in the experiment, up to five permanent speed tables might be installed on the southern section of Queen Street.

The town conducted a similar temporary speed table experiment on Key Rock Road in the fall of 2010, after which it installed two permanent asphalt speed tables there in the fall of 2011. Those speed tables are installed near a swamp on the northern end of Key Rock Road. 

Several years ago, the town installed experimental hard-rubber devices, known as “raised crosswalks” in two locations in the town center. Such devices combine the features of a speed table and a crosswalk.

The raised crosswalks were positioned on Queen Street, near its intersection with Lorraine Drive, and also on Glover Avenue, near its intersection with Meadow Road.

The town later removed the raised crosswalk from Queen Street. While the raised crosswalk also was removed from Glover Avenue, a conventional painted crosswalk remains there.

Fred Hurley, town public works director, this week stressed that speed tables are not intended to stop traffic on Queen Street, but to act as “traffic calming” devices to slow traffic.

Police will develop statistics on the speed tables’ effects on traffic flow in the Queen Street area, comparing the traffic information for that area before and after speed tables were in use, he said.

“Right now, it’s a two-month experiment,” Mr Hurley stressed.

Queen Street is in the center of town, while Key Rock Road is not, Mr Hurley said, noting that many more people likely will travel over the Queen Street speed tables than travel over the Key Rock Road speed tables.

On Queen Street, the two speed tables are positioned about 1,200 feet apart. The devices have hundreds of reflective panels on them to make them visible in the nighttime. Yellow diamond-shaped road signs warn motorists of the speed tables’ presence.

A possible negative effect of the speed tables’ presence would be the diversion of traffic onto the several side streets that link Queen Street to South Main Street (Route 25). Such a situation would result in more motorists seeking to make difficult left turns from the side streets onto South Main Street.

In response to the continuing complaints about traffic speeds on Queen Street, police recently conducted a traffic enforcement crackdown there.

During a 20-day period in February, police stopped 369 drivers on Queen Street for various violations. Those violations primarily involved speeding. Among those 369 motor vehicle stops, police issued three misdemeanor summonses, 166 infraction tickets, 155 written warnings, and 45 verbal warnings.