Bristol Decides Against The Much Debated Speed Bumps

By Dean Wright, The Bristol Press

January 26, 2022

The Bristol Board of Public Works has decided against the much-debated speed bumps, which would have been placed in target areas around town.

“There are pros and cons,” said Public Works Director Ray Rogozinski. “One of the things they do is slow speeds, but, as our consultant presented to the board last month, there are concerns associated with noise, travel time for emergency vehicles.”

Rogozinski said within the options presented to commissioners and City Council members included temporarily dispatched speed bump structures. Should the city consider pursuing the option in the future, he would suggest observing the use of temporary ones first.

Bristol Public Works solicited both the Bristol Fire Department and Bristol Police Department for feedback on the issue. Rogozinski noted he agreed with the concerns of the police department, calling them “valid.” The director said that per electronic communications, Bristol Police Chief Brian Gould had brought forward issues in other communities with drivers speeding up between the humps, among others. The director repeated the chief in one of his comments and said,” Everybody believes they want them until one ends up in front of their house.”

“There are some communities that aggressively promote humps, like Hartford,” said Rogozinski of potential options. “You can even just go onto their website and initiate a process where the community starts looking at installing them in your neighborhood. That’s one direction. You can send Public Works on, working with PD and fire. Another one is a motion to place on file. Another one is a motion to place on file unless there’s a petition from a neighborhood, and even then, evaluate it based on the credence of a particular neighborhood.”

Should a neighborhood go the petition route, the director said he would suggest a temporary bump be placed first.

“I think Chief Gould’s paragraph sums up the entire situation as far as I’m concerned and with that I’d make a motion to place the subject on file,” said Commissioner Frank Stawski.

City Council member Cheryl Thibeault said she had placed the issue before social media to ask others how they felt about the structures.

“It was a mixed bag, from total opposition to put one on this street today,” she said. “I’m not sure there’s going to be a happy solution and given (what was said) from the first responders, that carries a lot of weight with me. Again, I would not be opposed to trying a temporary one in a neighborhood, if enough people came forward.”

Mayor Jeff Caggiano noted that “winter is not the best time to test this stuff out either” before the vote was taken.