Norwich
The narrow, winding residential road that parallels and then connects with Route 5 south of downtown Norwich has a 25 mph speed limit, and yet the residents say cars often zoom by as quickly as 40 mph.
Kelley Hersey, who lives at a bend in Hopson Road, is a School Board member and one of the petition’s 17 signers.
“It doesn’t seem to matter how many speed traps we have,” she said in an interview on Thursday.
Even though police camp out on the road from time to time, she said, drivers still speed by.
“We have an 8-year-old son and he’s very active — loves to ride his bike — but I won’t let him ride his bike on Hopson Road with the speeders,” Hersey said.
She and 16 other residents in May submitted a petition asking for a speed table, a milder version of a speed bump, to be installed on the roughly mile-long road.
A speed table features a slight incline over a long distance, slowing down cars more gently than a speed bump.
The letter was addressed to the town manager, and last month, interim Town Manager David Ormiston floated the idea to the Selectboard.
Ormiston said he had consulted with the heads of his public works and police departments and decided that rather than the single speed table residents had asked for, three of them would work best to slow traffic. They all would be installed south of the Elm Street intersection.
The model he is considering is a permanent addition to the road that rises 4 inches over a distance of 10 feet in either direction. It can be plowed over during the winter.
Some board members were dubious, though they told Ormiston the decision was his to make.
Selectboard member Dan Goulet said he found speed tables an “aggressive” option and suggested more police enforcement.
“I travel that route all the time, and I get cranking through there,” Goulet said, according to a recording of the meeting. He noted that there were often people walking on the road; just that day, he said, he had to pull to the side on Hopson Road “because two rabbits and a lady were coming at me.”
Selectboard Chairwoman Linda Cook asked why the petition had not come to the board — she and some other members appeared not to have seen it — and asked whether it was board members’ decision, and not Ormiston’s. Other board members said it fell in the town manager’s purview to manage the roads.
Selectboard member Steve Flanders, who lives near Hersey on Hopson Road, also signed the petition.
“It’s your decision,” Cook later told Ormiston, “but I think Dan’s right: there’s going to be some shortfall here.”
In an interview earlier this month, Ormiston said the money for the three tables — roughly $7,500 — would come from an anticipated savings in an ongoing road re-paving project.
The interim manager said he had been receiving many unsolicited comments from residents who wanted calmer traffic on the road.
“I would like to ride my bike on Hopson Road,” said one email from Darius Faudie, Hersey’s son. “I would like to ride it all by myself but I can’t because the cars go way too fast and my mom says I can’t. When I ask her why, she says because I might get hit.”
During the July 11 meeting, Selectboard members also expressed concern that residents all around town would request speed tables if Hopson Road got them.
Ormiston replied that Hopson Road could be used as an experiment to see whether this approach could work. Regardless, he said, such requests should be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
In the interview, Ormiston said he was hoping for more comments and suggestions from residents, so that he could present the board with more information at its next meeting.
“I think we feel fairly good with the idea of speed tables,” he said, “but are looking to solicit some feedback on this and see what people have to say about it.”
At that meeting, which will take place at 6:30 p.m., on Aug. 24, board members also are scheduled to discuss the fiscal year 2018 budget.
Rob Wolfe can be reached at rwolfe@vnews.com or at 603-727-3242.