CLEVELAND, Ohio — More than a month after a car barreled through Ana Rivera’s front bedroom window, she’s still afraid to be in the front of her west side Cleveland home.
“We think we are safe in our house. And then this happened,” Rivera said.
Around 11:30 p.m. on July 5, Rivera and her husband were watching TV in a back room when the vehicle crashed through the family’s front fence, jumped a curb and slammed into the house on Madison Avenue, near West 85 Street.
“When I sit, I hear an explosion,” she recalled.
The splintered front wall is still covered by plywood while an insurance claim is being processed. More so than the gaping hole, Rivera said she’s worried about her family’s safety, including her two adult children with disabilities who live with her on the busy street.
“I want the city to take control of this because we pay taxes and everything and we need them to help us control the speed,” she said.
Thursday, Cleveland leaders unveiled a new initiative to crack down on speeding on West 85 Street, near Rivera’s home, which will be one location where the city will be initially deploying a radar speed feedback sign, posted near speed limit signs to show the travel speeds of passing vehicles.
The other traffic calming measure to be deployed are speed tables.
“Speed tables are something that we can do relatively inexpensively. These are modular rubber components that get kind of set on the street,” said Calley Mersmann, Cleveland’s Senior Strategist for Transit and Mobility.
Mersmann explained the city is installing 14 speed tables at 10 different locations. The areas were selected for the pilot program based on data collected on traffic, speeding, proximity to schools and parks and concerns reported by neighbors.
Suyonna Morgan has lived on Corlett Avenue on the city’s east side for close to 15 years. During that time, she said speeding has been a routine problem.
“It’s terrible, nonstop, it’s like they’re racing. They don’t even acknowledge the stop signs,” she said, pointing to a four-way stop near John Adams College and Career Academy where students cross during school days.
Corlett Avenue between East 120 and East 123 Street is the site of Cleveland’s first table, installed Thursday. Morgan hopes it helps slow traffic and improves safety.
“I hope and pray it does,” she said.
Near West 85 Street, Rivera’s hope is similar.
“I hope it’s a help to us because I don’t feel safe,” she said.
Mersmann explained the pilot program will last 8-12 weeks so the speed table's durability can be tested into the winter and against road crews. Information collected during that time will help inform a city-wide policy going forward.
During a Thursday press conference, Mayor Justin Bibb said it’s his goal to expand the program throughout the rest of the city.
“This is a problem we can solve,” he said of speeding.
The speed tables for the pilot program will be installed in the following locations:
- Judson Drive (East 160th Street to Lee Road)
- Dickens Avenue (East of Larry Doby Way)
- East 147th Street (South of Bartlett Avenue)
- West 101st Street (Marginal Road to Madison Avenue)
- West 56th Street (Denison Avenue to Storer Avenue)
- Edgewater Drive (West of West 115th Street)
- East 174th Street (Ozark Avenue to Nottingham Road)
- Corlett Avenue (East of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive)
- West 50th Street (Kouba Avenue to Clark Avenue)
- Bohn Road (East 40th to Kennard Road)
The radar speed feedback signs rotate monthly, city officials said, and will be initially deployed at these locations:
- West 85 Street – Madison Avenue to I-90
- Bosworth Road – Lorain Road to Bellaire Road
- Spring Road – West 11 Street to Broadview Road
- Storer Avenue – West 65 Street to West 44 Street
- East 93 Street – Cedar Road to Quincy Avenue
- East 65 Street – Bessemer Avenue to Wren Avenue
- East 116 Syreey – Buckeye Road to Dickens Avenue
- Miles Avenue – East 131 Street to Lee Road
- Grovewood Avenue – East 156 Street to Marginal Road
- Green Road – Ridgehill Road to South Green Road
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