TEMPLE TERRACE — Temple Terrace could see more speed humps installed if drivers don’t slow down, a less-than-ideal solution to a growing problem, city leaders said after approving five new traffic calming installations Feb. 17.
The City Council unanimously passed two resolutions authorizing three speed humps on North 62nd Street and two on Shirley Drive following resident petitions and traffic studies showing vehicles blowing past posted limits by more than 10 mph.
“Cars are very fast down our streets. They're out fast on my street. They're out fast on the mayor’s street. They're all over,” Vice Mayor James Chambers said. “We could put speed humps all over the city. Please slow down.”
Council expands 62nd Street plan
Public Works Operations Director Jason Warrefeltz initially proposed a single speed hump on N. 62nd between East Fowler Avenue and East 113th Avenue at a previous council meeting Jan. 6, calling it a “light-handed” approach based on traffic data.
But residents pushed for more, and council members asked staff to revisit the design.
Warrenfeltz returned last week with a revised plan with a “more rigorous design,” allowing for two additional speed bumps, bringing the total to three — one on the south end near Linwood Park and its playground, another centralized hump near townhomes in the area, and one more on the north end closer to Fowler Avenue.
The updated design was approved.
“Well-past due” on Shirley Drive
The second speed hump installation is slated for Shirley Drive between Rainbow Drive and Ridgeway Road, where residents say speeding has been a long-standing problem.
Similar to North 62nd Street, a neighborhood petition triggered a formal review and traffic study.
The Temple Terrace Police Department collected traffic and speed data on Shirley 2025 from Nov. 20-24, and it showed an 85th percentile speed of 35 mph, about 10 mph over the posted limit.
The council agreed to the two-hump proposal.
“This is well past due,” said Michael Redding, who has lived on the street for 18 years. He said he didn’t think two would be enough for the quarter-mile stretch, however, and asked the city to also consider an additional stop sign to further slow traffic.
“You can hear them accelerating from both ends of the street,” he added.
William Hedgepeth, a 24-year resident, said he sees the speeding all the time, and described cars using Shirley as a straight-shot cut-through to Busch Boulevard as life threatening.
Containing the problem
While supporting the installations, council members expressed concerns that traffic calming would shift speeding to nearby streets like Rainbow Drive.
Warrenfeltz said “shifting the problem” can occur, but he has seen cases where it hasn’t. If so, other streets would need to file petitions for its own speed humps per city policy.
City manager Carlos Baia suggested collecting baseline traffic data on surrounding roads, Rainbow Drive, Ridgeway Road and Grandview Drive, before construction begins. That way, the city can measure the conditions and see if the problem has been resolved or emerged somewhere else afterwards.
Mayor Andy Ross agreed.
“I just want to make sure that we're respectful of the people on Rainbow Road, when we know that we're what we're doing may have an impact on them,” he said. “I really would hate in six months to have 12 people from that live on Rainbow come down here with their hair on fire, screaming about a problem that we created.”
Not a cure-all
Chambers again implored residents to slow down. He said speed humps are effective but costly and not a tenable solution.
When the city’s first speed humps were installed on Whiteway Drive years ago, he said, speeding shifted to nearby Druid Hills Road, where the city then had to add humps.
The nice mayor urged residents to address the root issue.
“Tell your neighbors: slow down.”
Council member Alison Fernandez said Temple Terrace is known for its walkable, bike friendly neighborhoods, and slower, residential streets. But increasingly, petitions are being filed for traffic calming measures.
“I don't think that we can paper the city in speed bumps,” Fernandez said. “But I think we all notice that it's a hindrance to the community when people are flying down the streets.”
