Speedbumps? Good vs Bad
One of our readers has asked about speed bumps. Apparently, he lives in a community embroiled in a dispute over to “speed-bump” their road or not. He wanted to know if speed-bumps have any effect on property values. I know their effect on husbands: mine has a tizzy-fit every time I turn onto Northaven, even though we both have SUV’s. We used to live on Park Lane and I wanted speed-bumps: I worried that one of our dogs would venture out onto the street while the crazies were racing to circumvent the traffic on Preston. Now we live on a much quieter street but people still race — swear carpooling Mothers in SUVs are worse than Scud missiles. (Once I was one.) So I called an appraiser to get the skinny on speed bumps:You can either pay for them yourself (like all the neighbors pool resources) or get on the city’s list and wait your turn. (Guess which happens faster?) This appraiser is personally not a big speed-bump fan, but he doesn’t think they affect property values one way or the other. Here’s a thought: you have an out-of town buyer mid-week, mid-day. The speed bumps just might steer him away from a listing because they draw attention to the fact that the street has high traffic. Which is why I think, before you buy a home, you need to almost camp-out nearby for 24 hours and check traffic patterns — Park was only busy from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., then busy again around five. Looking at Meadow Rd. east of Preston at ten in the morning one might wonder what the neighbors were smoking when they got those speed bumps in — come back at five, it’s a whole different story. What do you think?
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I don’t think the speed bumps have any effect on property values. I think the traffic does. A potential buyer may get a hint from the speed bumps that they should look at the traffic — but at the same time they see there are already measures in place to slow the traffic down and make the neighborhood safer for kids and pedestrians.
The people who like the speed bumps are the ones that live or walk on those streets. The folks who don’t like them are the ones that want to zip down the street, either passing through the neighborhood or even to their homes on a less-traveled street in the neighborhood — exactly the people that probably need to slow down. The passers-through are particularly a problem on streets that weren’t build to be through streets, and so aren’t particularly wide.
Which is why the decision should be largely left to the residents of the street in question — not the folks cutting through, and not even the folks that live one street over in the quiet cul de sac, but like to fly through the rest of the neighborhood.
Candy, your out of town buyer example is spot-on. They are a dead give away and scream “busy street” and “we have tons of traffic”. No buyer will say, “Oh great! These residents are safe!” It will definitely be a concern. Will it affect property values? Not sure. But I guarantee some buyers won’t consider a home on a street with speedbumps.
My townhome community has a through street and some want speedbumps and I just know they will put one right in front of my townhome and make we wobble over it every day as I leave and come home. That will get frustrating to the residents and not the passers through.
I just purchased a new home back in Sept 08. We are located on the main enterence to our gated community, and there are 3 speed bumps spread out over the first 1/4 mile or so. The speed bumps were installed about 6 months before we moved in, due to cars drag racing up and down the street.
We have two small boys, 2 & 3.5, and if those speed bumps were not in place, we would NOT have purchased that home. In fact in just the 2 homes across from us and 1 next door, there are a total of 9 children under the age of 7.
I understand those that like to speed and those driving low profile vehicles feel inconvienced. But imagine how inconvienced they would be after landing in prison for running over a small child while speeding through our neighborhood.
The new president of our HOA just circulated a memo, proposing a vote to have the speed bumps removed. I have informed him that the removal of these saftey devices without replacement with an equal or better device, in my view is Willful Endangerment of my children. A charge that is punishable in both civil and criminal court.