Detroit adding 4,500 speed humps after crashes

Detroit mayor Mike Duggan is expanding a program with the Department of Public Works to add 4,500 speed humps throughout the city this year and next year. 

At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Duggan announced that in spring of 2021, the city will more than triple the number of new speed humps from 1,200 this year to 4,500 in an effort to increase neighborhood safety and slow down motorists in those areas with high pedestrian traffic. The program will bring the total in the city to 6,275.

The planned increase in speed humps in Detroit comes weeks after several fatal car crashes this month, including two crashes that left a 2-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl dead. 

"There is probably no issue that is raised with me by Detroiters with greater frequency than the speeding that is going on in this city and since COVID, when it seems like there are fewer cars on the streets, more of them are driving in unsafe speeds," Duggan said. 

The 4,500 speed humps will cost the city $11.5 million, which will come out of the $100 million road repair budget, causing some some road resurfacing to be delayed. 

The speed humps will only be added to residential streets with a speed limit of 25 mph. The city will choose which streets will receive speed humps based on traffic in the area, the number of children on the street and any excessive speeding reports from the Detroit Police Department. 

Priority will be given to streets that are used by drivers to pass traffic on nearby major roads. The city is looking to work with smaller, Detroit based, minority-owned asphalt companies to complete the installation. Interested parties should contact DPW at 313-224-3901

"We have had them installed on our street for quite some time now and it has cut down on the traffic on our street tremendously ... we have stop signs that are placed on almost every corner. No one recognizes the stop signs," said Marsha Morrell, a resident who had the speed humps installed on her street in 2018.

Detroit officials are also launching a citywide campaign to encourage residents to get flu vaccinations, the mayor announced during the news conference. 

Starting Oct. 14, flu vaccinations will be offered at 267 high-risk facilities, including emergency shelters, adult foster care centers and senior living centers. Free flu shots will also be offered at 81 locations across the city. 

Duggan and Chief Public Health Officer Denise Fair closed out the news conference by getting their own flu shots. 

"We are still in the middle of a pandemic," Fair said. "COVID-19 is still real and it's not going anywhere for quite some time. So since the flu season is upon us, we need to prevent the flu. We need to protect ourselves and the people around us but also our health systems. We need to reduce the strain on our hospitals that are responding to COVID."