A fresh engineering study is making recommendations about a controversial pair of speed bumps at the Village of Bridgeport at Lake Sumter.
Community Development District 6 supervisors earlier this year voted to remove the speed bumps. However, that vote was nullified after it was discovered the speed bumps were actually located within the borders of Community Development District 5. CDD 5 supervisors heard passionate pleas from residents of the Village of Bridgeport at Lake Sumter who had circulated a petition asking that the speed bumps remain in place.
On Monday morning, the Project Wide Advisory Committee will be presented with a fresh engineering study from Kimley-Horn & Associates Inc. As part of the study, Richard Busche and Amber Gartner of Kimley-Horn personally spent time at the site, speaking with Villagers who regularly travel through that location in golf carts, on bicycles, by vehicle or on foot.
You can read the entire study at Bridgeport_Entrance_Evaluation
“Though speed bumps are not recommended by Kimley-Horn at this location and there is widespread consensus in the transportation industry that speed bumps are inappropriate for bicyclists and pedestrians,” the report said.
Kimley-Horn said the ultimate decision would be up to the CDD.
Kimley-Horn found that:
• The speed bumps appear to encourage “rolling stops” at these locations.
• The speed bumps are the full width of the trail, which means that a cart that has just crossed the entrance must then also slow down for another speed bump on the other side. Regular backups were found to be occurring.
• In the westbound direction, the location of the speed bump is such that the golf carts must actually straddle the bump to obey the posted stop sign.
Kimley-Horn also said that if the speed bumps are kept in place, they should be relocated further from the intersection to allow for a golf cart to stop at the stop sign without having to straddle the speed bump. The speed bump should also be limited to the approaching lane only and removed from the receiving lane so as not to cause slowing of the golf carts within the vehicular travel lane.
If the speed bumps are removed, Kimley-Horn recommends that a painted stop bar and “STOP” message be added to the asphalt at this location for enhanced warning for carts to stop.
The Project Wide Advisory Committee meets at 9 a.m. Monday at the District Office located at Lake Sumter Landing.