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Despite a speed limit of 20 mph posted in residential areas across Ulysses, the city has heard numerous complaints about motorists with a need for speed moving through residential areas and school zones a little too fast. The city council discussed the issue at its July 9 meeting in front of a full house of concerned residents.
One resident of West Wheat Avenue – who did not identify himself – spoke during the Visitors portion of the meeting and said speeding is more prevalent in some areas of town as opposed to others. He lives on West Wheat Avenue and says, “Sometimes it’s nothing but a speedway.”
“It happens more so after school hours,” he said. “But I think it’s just something that needs to be addressed.”
“Speed Control Measures” was the final item on the agenda, and the council discussed it at that time.
“I hear speed complaints all the time,” said City Administrator Luke Grimes. “It’s everywhere at different times.”
Grimes said the police department never has more than two officers on patrol looking for speeders. According to Grant County Law Enforcement Center’s Activity Log which The Ulysses News obtains every Monday, officers made 32 traffic stops from July 1-6, but it was unknown how many were speed-related or how many resulted in citations.
“Is the speeding enough of a problem to start addressing with some infra-structure changes?” Grimes asked. “Because that cost is incredibly expensive. The police are, by far, our most expensive department, already.”
Grimes displayed a map of the city that illustrated traffic flow between arterial roadways - U.S. 160 (Oklahoma Avenue) and State Highway 25 (Colorado Street) - major collector roads like Joyce, Patterson and Missouri, and minor collector roads like Wheat, Kansas and Durham, among others.
“I think those are some of our main problems,” Grimes said. “He mentioned Wheat. Another one I’ve noticed is Central, down there, and I’ve also had some related to the schools.”
Councilman Terry Maas said officers can’t be everywhere all the time.
“You could hire another 10 cops and never catch a speeder,” Maas said. “It’s by chance, I speak from experience. You can’t be everywhere all the time.”
The gentleman who spoke at the beginning of the meeting mentioned front and back radars, but Maas said those are primarily for county vehicles, because they are used on the highways and not in town. But he said traffic cameras were an intriguing idea.
Councilman Ken Warner said it would be nice to gather some data to see the areas where people speed, and how fast they are driving.
“I want to know how big of an issue it really is,” said Councilman Caleb Woods.
“We’re not going to stop speeders,” Warner added. “I’ve lived in this town a number of years and it’s been a complaint ever since I moved to town.
“I guess it would be nice, if we’re going to start making some decisions about that, to have some kind of data to support (it).”
Equipment to monitor traffic speed is expensive.
Mayor Tim McCauley said if people see a portable camera or a speed checker, they’re going to find ways around it.
“They’re not stupid, they’re gonna use ways to get around it,” he said.
Maas said the city isn’t looking for ways to make money, it’s looking to slow people down.
“Right now, we’re making decisions based on no data,” Warner reiterated.
Councilman Mark Diaz said instead of spending money on data collection, ask city and county law enforcement how many citations and warnings are issued for speed. City attorney Lynn Koehn said that data is readily available.
“Instead of spending a bunch of money trying to get a company to come in here and do it, start ticketing those people and then figure out what we’re coming up with,” Diaz said. “I think we could spend a lot of money trying to get data when we have our own officers that we need to be able to trust with information and bring it to us.”
The meeting deteriorated into separate conversations amongst the council about speed bumps, dips (like those on Missouri Street) and data-gathering before Grimes chimed in and said he would chase down sources of data. He also displayed methods which were most effective, relative to cost, such as speed bumps/raised crosswalks, curb extensions/chicanes, radar feedback (a sign displaying a motorist’s speed), and a city safety campaign.
“We have really wide streets, I think that’s why we have such a prolific problem with this,” Grimes added. “Our streets are so dang wide. “There’s a lot of opportunities to relatively cost-effectively thin some streets and even make them more pedestrian accessible.”
Maas said traffic cameras would be effective. It would note the speed, take a picture of the license plate, and send a ticket.
“If you don’t speed, you don’t get a ticket,” Maas said. “But, if you do speed, then there’s consequences. Whether it’s an officer, a camera, or whatever; if you get caught, you get caught, you roll the dice.”
Grimes said they are effective, but they’re politically hazardous.
“A sign’s not going to change what people do, but a ticket does,” Maas added. “And if you don’t get a ticket, you don’t speed, no problem.”
Grimes said he would track down options for collecting data and bring it back to the council at a later date.
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