From Staff Reports

Prompted by citizen requests, Asheville City Council may start addressing a number of city roads where motorists often drive too fast.

Council decided on Feb. 19 to look again at traffic-calming measures and determine if the program can be restarted and made more simple.

According to 2006 estimates, Asheville has more than 100 miles of projects that have not yet been addressed.

Traffic measures include speed bumps, traffic islands, curves or other obstacles that force drivers to slow down.

Unanimously without a vote, council directed city traffic engineer Ken Putman to report March 18 on possible changes to the program. Putnam said he would focus on simple methods, such as stop signs and speed bumps.

Councilman Carl Mumpower, however, said he opposed traffic-calming measures because they create speeding problems in other neighborhoods. Rather, he argued, council should focus on police enforcement.

The city had been using taxpayer money to fund traffic calming until 2006, but stopped as costs continued to escalate. In some cases, the measures cost as much as $115,000 per mile.

Councilman Brownie Newman urged the city staff to focus on less-expensive methods, rather than costly techniques such as traffic islands.

He also said that residents should have better means to address areas they think need traffic calming. Currently, citizens who want traffic slowed on their streets have to navigate a 12-page city policy, Newman noted.