What's at stake?
Fresno residents can have speed humps installed in their neighborhood by submitting an application to the city if their street meets eligibility requirements and is considered to have a speeding problem.
The city of Fresno opened applications for residents to have speed humps installed in their neighborhood in March of this year, with a deadline of Oct. 31 quickly approaching.
As a project of the city’s Public Works Department, the residential speed hump program is targeted towards residents who are concerned about speeding in their neighborhood.
Speed humps are shorter and wider than speed bumps and are used to reduce speeds in residential neighborhoods to around 15-20 mph, according to the National Association of City Transportation Officials.
How do I apply for the speed hump program?
The application can be found on the Traffic Operations and Planning page on the city’s website. An application to remove speed humps is also available.
The city requires that you petition with your neighborhood to get at least 75% of households to support the installation. The application contains a form where neighbors can sign on with their name and address to show support.
If there are vacant addresses in your neighborhood, a minimum of 60% of occupied addresses are needed for the application.
After the application requirements are met, residents can scan the application and petition form and email it to traffic.calming@fresno.gov.
You can also mail your application and petition form to:
Residential Speed Hump Program
City of Fresno, Traffic Operations & Planning Division
2600 Fresno Street, 4th Floor, Room 4064
Fresno, CA 93721
What happens after I apply?
Applications will be ranked against each other on traffic speed, the volume of traffic, number of collisions and the extent of complaints at each location.
The Traffic Operations and Planning also outlines specific eligibility for a street to be considered eligible for a speed hump. Namely, some of these requirements include:
- Major streets that fall under the category of expressways, super arterials, arterials or collectors cannot be considered for the speed hump program.
- Data collected by the city must show a speeding problem is present. The city defines this as “…85% or more of people driving on the block are doing so at a speed of 10MPH or more above the speed limit.”
- Speed humps cannot be installed in alleys or cul-de-sacs.
Depending on the ranking from data and eligibility requirements, some streets will be prioritized over others and will receive speed humps first.
In total, the speed hump installation program has a budget of $400,000, according to Sontaya Rose, spokesperson for the mayor’s office.
Rose wrote in an email that the budget for the program was drawn during council meetings and was made possible by the American Rescue Plan Act that was signed by President Joe Biden in 2021. She also wrote that the program’s budget was funded through Measure C.
If an application is approved but funding for the current application cycle runs out, applicants will have to apply again in the next cycle.
“We need to make sure that once the process is completed, that everyone is still on board with the speed hump installation,” Rose wrote.
Rose also wrote that the next cycle of installations is anticipated to open in March of next year.
Rankings are slated to be posted in the spring of 2024, with installations planned to take place in the summer of the same year.