Clarkesville City Council members have decided to keep the speed bumps on Rocky Branch Road despite a number of complaints from motorists and some neighbors along the road.
The speed bumps were installed in March and immediately met with complaints as Now Habersham reported at the time. While the overwhelming response from drivers was negative, City Manager Barbara Kesler points outs that, “All the email complaints that we got were from people who don’t live within the city limits of Clarkesville.”
Kesler says she ordered the speed breakers installed because several people complained about lead-footed drivers, “The number one road that I get complaints about people speeding on is Rocky Branch.”
Council Member Leigh Johnston lives along Rocky Branch and confirms that drivers there speed along the road constantly, “It’s like they’re in a race to get to the light at the top.”
Kesler says she explored other options to slow down the traffic but Clarkesville Police can’t run radar on the road due to the incline and sight lines. They also don’t have enough officers to post someone there for hours at a time to catch speeders. For Kesler, the speed breakers seemed like a good alternative, “Honestly, I didn’t think it was going to be that big a deal.”
It has become a very “big deal” to the point that even people who live along the street are complaining.
Neighbors apparently don’t mind the slower traffic, “They’re tickled about the speed bumps,” says Johnston. “What they don’t like is the noise that the plastic ones that we put in create and they do create a lot of noise.”
Rocky Branch neighbors Jeanie and Walter Daves wrote to Kesler about the noise –
“…cars and trucks going over them create a lot of noise, loud enough to wake us up at night. Also, the sound of some vehicles accelerating after crossing the bumps makes one think of NASCAR – much louder than the sound of a passing car.”
The Daves requested the city take out the plastic bumps and replace them with larger, smoother concrete speed bumps that would make an easier ride for cars and less noise for neighbors.
Kesler says the change would be too expensive. “The plastic ones cost around $300 while the asphalt ones cost a little over $500 just to put in and that’s not painted.” She says painting and maintaining the larger, smoother speed bumps adds to the cost every year. They also have to be torn out and replaced anytime they repave the road further adding to the cost.
Johnston says in order to stop the speeders, the folks on Rocky Branch are fine with the noisy plastic, “We’d rather have asphalt but if this is the only kind we can have, then leave them. Don’t take them up.”
While council members all agreed to keep the Rocky Branch speed breakers in place, Kesler says there will be more discussion before any more of the devices are installed. “You can bet your bottom dollar that if anyone else wants speed bumps on their road it will come before the council first.”
