Residents on the Northside and across the city are seeing relief from speeding motorists.
The city council recently approved an amendment to its agreement with Hemphill Construction to install speed humps along 21 residential streets.
The city approved the initial contract last September. However, contractors determined additional signage was needed to better warn motorists of construction.
The initial contract was for approximately $341,000, but was increased to $351,000 with the cost of the signs added in.
Sections of nine streets receiving speed humps are on the Northside: Dogwood Drive, North Canton Club Road, Woodfield Drive, Mossline Drive, Oakridge Drive, Plantation Boulevard, Ridgeway Street, Winchester Street and River Thames Road.
Crews were out recently marking spots along River Thames and Plantation where the new speed humps will be located.
It was unclear how many humps would be on each street, or how long it would take for the devices to be installed.
Larry Little, treasurer of the Ridgewood Southeast, was excited to learn that Plantation is included on the list of streets.
Speed humps will be added along the roadway between Ridgewood Road and Fernwood Drive.
He said motorists often use Plantation at a cut-through to get from Ridgewood to Old Canton Road. At the same time, the street is used by walkers, runners and other pedestrians from the neighborhood.
“The speeding is ridiculous,” he said.
Ridgewood Park, like other neighborhoods on the Northside, had been attempting to get speed humps for years.
However, the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) changed the rules on how Jackson could spend the money, and slowed the process to a snail’s pace.
The city approved speed humps for Dogwood, River Thames and other areas as far back as 2010 and 2011, and was planning to pay for those projects with funds left over from a $2 million federal grant.
Because federal dollars were being used for the work, all plans had to be signed off by the state.
In 2012, the city had about $1.1 million in grant money remaining, and was planning to submit projects on an as-needed basis, until the funding was exhausted.
That year, though, MDOT changed its rules to require Jackson to bundle together a large number of projects before it could submit plans for approval.
In fact, Jackson was told it had to spend the remaining $1.1 million in two fell swoops.
With costs ranging around $4,300 per speed hump, a good number of projects had to be bundled before a project could be taken to the state.
MDOT’s rules came on top of the city’s already lengthy process for having traffic-calming devices approved.
The process could take several months from beginning to end, and includes two petitions, a public hearing and a traffic study.
The city stopped accepting applications years ago, citing a lack of funding for additional work.
In 2016, the city was considering reopening the application process for neighborhoods willing to pay for speed humps themselves.
Northside streets approved for speed humps:
• Dogwood Drive from Honeysuckle Lane to Meadowbrook Road;
• North Canton Club Road;
• Woodfield Drive and Mossline Drive;
• Oakridge Drive from Old Canton Road to Meadowbrook;
• Plantation Boulevard from Ridgewood Road to Fernwood Drive;
• Ridgeway Street from Northview Drive to North State Street;
• Winchester Street from Old Canton to Ridgewood;
• the River Thames Road area.
