Speed Humps Coming Soon to Gulfport Neighborhood

Steve and Jane Neal are five-year residents on the St. Petersburg side of 7th Ave S.

In that time, they've asked St. Pete and Gulfport, who oversees the other side of the street, to do something about speeders in their neighborhood. 

"It's a huge problem," Steve Neal said. "It's just not safe."

After a long process, residents on 7th Ave S. may see permanent speed humps as early as May, but only if the joint traffic calming plan, which has been stalled since 2009, can pass over another hump.

A majority of the Neals' 78 neighbors must approve of the plan to install three speed humps on 7th Ave S. between 58th Street and 64th Street South.

Ballots will be mailed on Wednesday, April 10.

Steve Neal and Council Member Jennifer Salmon gathered enough petition signatures for St. Pete to move forward with its traffic calming plan to install three speed humps along 7th Ave S. at the 5900, 6000 and 6100 blocks.

The entire project is estimated at $4,500, a City of St. Petersburg transportation official Michael Frederick said. Each hump will cost $1,500 and will be 3 feet wide by 12 feet long, he said. St. Petersburg will pay for the entire project.

Gulfport will only have to add signs on its side of the street, according to Don Sopak, Gulfport Public Works Director.

Ballots Needed to Move Forward

The completion of the project is dependent on residents' support.

Frederick says St. Pete will mail ballots to 78 residents on that street. People will vote in favor or against the traffic plan (see attached document). If a majority of residents support the plan, it will move forward.

The ballots are due back by April 26.

According to Frederick, St. Pete could begin construction as soon as two to four weeks following the return of the ballots.

St. Pete Resident Steve Neal says he'll be going door to door this weekend to make sure people received their ballots and return them.

"That's where it stands now. Everybody's kind of sitting on pins and cushions," Neal said.

Neal is concerned that some residents won't return their ballots.

"We will bang on all the doors," he said.

The project would finalize years of work for Neal and other passionate neighbors like Carolyn Huffer and Shirley Calamari. In fact, Huffer made the push to lower the speed limit from 30 mph to 25, and she says that still didn't address the problem.

"It's never gotten this far," Neal said.

The City of St. Petersburg's attempted to get them in place after conducting its own traffic survey in 2009, but because Gulfport didn't have a process in place, the construction plan stalled. 

City of Gulfport Traffic Calming Program

The project was able to move forward when the City of Gulfport adopted a Traffic Calming Program in January. It's the first of its kind in the city and it allows residents to address speeding concerns. "It's a process," Chief Robert Vincent said.

Since Gulfport adopted a process, Neal and others could petition for the speed humps. Neal went door to door in March, gathering signatures on the St. Pete side, while Council Member Jennifer Salmon reached out to Gulfport residents on 7th Ave S.

Combined, they collected about 40 signatures, enough to submit to St. Pete and keep the project alive.

“I wasn’t sure what I would find out. I was shocked, how much it mattered to people, they had just given up, they just lived with it," Salmon said.

Of everyone they talked to, Salmon said one resident opposed speed humps and Neal said two people in St. Pete also didn't agree with the plan. Other than that, both petitioners say they received support from everyone else.

Related Coverage:

• Traffic Calming Program Coming Soon
• Are People Speeding in Your Neighborhood?

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