what is the status on the issue

what is the status on the issue?

still waiting on a status .....

Traffic Engineer is evaluating, please remain paitent. When there is an update to give you, it will be posted here.

Alex, Office of the CM

evaluating what? theres no posted speed limit on humphrey st

Speed limit signs cannot be posted without first doing an engineering study that is approved by the state. Only after the speed study is conducted and the results and recommendations approved by both the state and city council, can a speed limit sign be legally posted. The default speed limit on thickly settled roads in Massachusetts is 30 mph, however, the speed limit cannot be posted without the study being conducted to verify the actual speeds. When a speed study is conducted, the 85th percentile speed of vehicles is determined, and the speed limit is usually set at that value. For example, if the study revealed that 85 percent of the vehicles were traveling at or below 34 mph, the speed limit would likely be set at 35 mph. Sometimes the results of the speed study result in a higher speed limit than would otherwise be the legal limit if no study was done. For instance, while the default speed limit on Humphrey Street is 30 mph, if a speed study found that the 85th percentile speed was 35, the speed limit would likely be posted at 35.

Above all, the fundamental speed law is that all drivers should drive at a speed that is reasonable and proper given the existing conditions of the roadway and the environment. Regardless of the posted speed limit, drivers tend to drive at a speed that they feel comfortable and safe driving at. The best way to slow traffic is by the design of the roadway and the built environment. Narrower roads in densely developed areas tend to result in slower speeds, while wide, straight roads with little activity at the side of the road tend to encourage higher speeds.

-Eric Eby, Traffic Engineer
City of Lowell

all drivers should drive at a reasonable speed on humphrey st, that isnt the case, they are traveling at speed greater than 35 and part of humphrey st across willard as a posted speed limit of 15mpg, because of how narrow it is, the majority of humphrey st does not have a speed limit sign whatsoever which creates controversy if police officers want to pull people over for speeding also there is a public bus stop on humphrey as well. what is the date of completion of this so called study

what is the status of this issue?

There are no current plans to conduct a speed study for the purpose of posting a speed limit sign on Humphrey Street. The current legal speed limit of 30 mph can be enforced by the police if they determine a need.
Eric Eby, Traffic Engineer
City of Lowell

Issue closed.

thats not good enough, humphre st crosses willard on to the other side and has a speed limit of 15MPH, i have already requested the police to enforce the speed limit of 30 and they have yet to do anything about it. Originally the city of lowell responded with the following: Speed limit signs cannot be posted without first doing an engineering study that is approved by the state. Only after the speed study is conducted and the results and recommendations approved by both the state and city council, can a speed limit sign be legally posted. The default speed limit on thickly settled roads in Massachusetts is 30 mph, however, the speed limit cannot be posted without the study being conducted to verify the actual speeds. When a speed study is conducted, the 85th percentile speed of vehicles is determined, and the speed limit is usually set at that value. For example, if the study revealed that 85 percent of the vehicles were traveling at or below 34 mph, the speed limit would likely be set at 35 mph. Sometimes the results of the speed study result in a higher speed limit than would otherwise be the legal limit if no study was done. For instance, while the default speed limit on Humphrey Street is 30 mph, if a speed study found that the 85th percentile speed was 35, the speed limit would likely be posted at 35.

Above all, the fundamental speed law is that all drivers should drive at a speed that is reasonable and proper given the existing conditions of the roadway and the environment. Regardless of the posted speed limit, drivers tend to drive at a speed that they feel comfortable and safe driving at. The best way to slow traffic is by the design of the roadway and the built environment. Narrower roads in densely developed areas tend to result in slower speeds, while wide, straight roads with little activity at the side of the road tend to encourage higher speeds.

re-opening the issue til the humphrey st community is satisfied

The 15 mph speed limit sign on the other side of Willard is not a legally posted sign. It was likely posted by one of the residents. The legal speed limit on that section is also 30 mph.
I will request the police to place a traffic recorder on your section of Humphrey to collect data on speeds.

I am working with the Lowell Police to place a traffic recorder on Humphrey Street to collect actual speed data. Once I have that data I will respond further to this issue.

which way will the traffic recorder be faced? how long will it be there? keep in mind i already requested this and they faced it towards the hill of humphrey and not towards the corner of willard and humphrey

I believe that last time they placed the speed trailer on the side of the road. This time it will be a small box with two rubber tubes running across the road. It will collect data and not display speeds to drivers. They usually leave it out for a week to collect data from all seven days.

that device will collect traffice both ways 24/7 for 1 week?

yes

ok

whats the status of this?

I spoke with the Police department and they will be setting the traffic recorder out there tomorrow.

where are they going to put it?

The utility pole in front of #224 Humphrey. Just south of Pemberton Street. I figure the speeds should be the highest at about that spot. If you feel differently let me know.
Thank you.

i preferr in front of 248 humphrey in front of the pole, but it sounds like its the same location

We have the results of the speed study. Southbound the average speeds are 19 mph, with an 85th percentile speed of 31 mph. Northbound towards Willard Street the average speed is 29 mph, with an 85th percentile speed of 34 mph. 90 percent of the traffic on the street is in the southbound direction.
The current legal speed limit on the street is 30 mph. The study shows that the average speeds are below the speed limit. The 85th percentile speeds are the speeds that are used to post the speed limit signs when an official study is done for the state. So if a state approved study was conducted, the signs would likely be posted at 30 or 35, which is consistent or higher than the current speed limit. Posting signs will not have a significant impact on the speeds on the street. Enforcement by police is the way to keep speeds in line with the speed limit, but our data shows that speeding is only occurring in the northbound direction, which is the much lighter direction of traffic volume on the street. In all, less than 100 vehicles over the course of 8 days, out of over 10,600 vehicles, or less than 1 percent, were traveling at over 45 mph. 15 mph over the legal limit is often the threshold used by police to issue speeding tickets.

i have asked the police department to come down and clock people and nothing was done about it, again there are alot of kids on the street as well as people who walk their dogs with children the speed limit of 30 needs to be strictly enforced and my original request was for a speed limit sign i will wait for that to actually happen. ALSO the speed limit sign on the other half of humphrey is 15 and do not tell me it is an un-official speed limit sign its unheard of. My street is narrow at times especially going up the hill with all the cars parked on the side of the road because of that i expect to see at least ONE SIGN posted SOMEWHERE on the street. if 30-35 is too high then set the speed limit to 20-25. re-opening issue, closing this issue doesnt mean its resolved.

I will pass on the speed data to the traffic bureau at the police department. It is their call whether to increase enforcement. The data indicate that the majority of vehicle speeds are in line with the current speed limit of 30 mph. Simply posting a lower speed limit will not result in significantly lower speeds. Regardless of the posted speed limit, drivers tend to drive at a speed that they feel comfortable and safe driving at. The best way to slow traffic is by the design of the roadway and the built environment. Narrower roads in densely developed areas tend to result in slower speeds, while wide, straight roads with little activity at the side of the road tend to encourage higher speeds.

The 15 mph sign on the other side of Willard is an illegal sign and it was not posted by the city.
If you wish to continue pursuing this issue, I suggest you contact the police for enforcement or the city council to request physical changes to the roadway. This is not a matter of signing.

How do you know that the 15 MPH speed limit sign is illegal? did u take a look at it, do the official signs say official on it, and you are saying that the city did not post it? does that mean theres no record on file for the request? all these statements u make regarding that particular sign, HOW DO YOU KNOW?

In Massachusetts it is illegal to post a speed limit sign unless there is a Special Speed Regulation approved for that street with the state Department of Transportation. I have copies of all the Special Speed Regulations for the city of Lowell. There is no Special Speed Regulation for Humphrey Street. Therefore, no speed limit signs can legally be posted on Humphrey Street.
It is possible for people to order signs from the same companies that cities use to purchase their signs, and then to mount those signs themselves. They look just like a regular sign. But they are not legal and will be removed when identified.

Old issues.

this issue has not be resolved, and i now notice that someone took down the 15MPH sign on the narrow part of humphrey st and it took this long for it to be taken down. closing this issue doesnt mean its resolved

The 15 MPH sign was illegally posted. Police will be putting a speed trailer on this road soon with a speed display.