SIMI VALLEY : Council OKs Traffic Humps for 3 Streets

Aiming to slow traffic in three Simi Valley neighborhoods, the City Council on Monday unanimously approved the installation of traffic humps on three city streets.

The concrete humps, which traffic engineers predict will slow traffic speeds by 5 to 10 m.p.h., will be placed on Delilah Street between Tracy and Sequoia avenues; on Justin Avenue between Cochran and Larch streets, and on Texas Avenue between Corpus Christi Avenue and Walnut Street.

“This is a pretty effective method of keeping speeds down in areas where the residents have perceived there to be problems,” said Bill Golubics, city traffic engineer.

“We have 300 miles of streets in the city, so we can’t just rely on the police,” he said.

Golubics said the city began using traffic humps to slow traffic in the mid-1980s and has installed them in 18 locations to date.

To gain city approval for the traffic humps, two-thirds of residents in the neighborhood must have signed a petition requesting the improvement, and a city traffic study must show the humps are warranted.

John Wilson, a resident of one of the neighborhoods involved, said there have been two accidents on his street, including one involving a child who was hit.

“I would just request that the city address this matter before someone gets killed,” Wilson said.

In all three cases discussed by the City Council Monday, the required number of signatures were gathered.

All three streets have speed limits of 25 m.p.h., but city studies show that average speeds on them are between 30 and 32 m.p.h.

The humps will be installed within four to eight weeks, Golubics said.