After stating their concerns about traffic safety, a local veterans organization and their neighbors have finally gotten some relief.
Just in time for Veterans Day, two new speed humps were installed on a stretch of Ericson Place between East Tremont Avenue and Zulette Avenue in the Waterbury-LaSalle/Pelham Bay community.
The humps were installed along with signage alerting motorists of their presence and appropriate roadway markings both on the humps themselves and on the flat surface of the roadway.
They were installed on Monday, October 30, said Owen Mangan, commander of Samuel Young American Legion Post 620. The post’s grounds border Ericson Place.
They have been marked out on the street for installation for awhile, and though the post had hoped the humps might be slightly larger, anything to slow down traffic on the block is helpful, he said.
“It seems to be slowing them down a little bit,” said Mangan of the humps, adding autos often speed on the two-block stretch, which has driveways on one side and residences on the other.
Mangan said he has seen some “near disasters” outside the post building on Ericson Place.
“It was getting a bit crazy over there on Ericson Place…the speeding was really out of control” said Mangan, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, adding “Someone was eventually going to get killed trying to cross the street.”
Cars exiting the northbound Hutchinson River Parkway at Exit 2 often come off the highway and speed up the street, the post commander said, adding that a hill between East Tremont Avenue and Wellman Avenue obstructs the views of motorists.
“They cannot see what is coming until they reach the crest of hill,” said Mangan of motorists, some of whom he thinks tend to believe the street is a service road to the highway.
Anthony Salimbene, the American Legion’s Bronx County commander and a civic leader, said he concurred with Mangan’s assessment and that speeding on the street had been an issue for awhile.
Salimbene said that he had reached out to Senator Jeff Klein’s office on the matter and credited Dan Hogle, a Klein aide, with finally getting some badly-needed traffic controls installed.
“I don’t know if they are cutting through or what they are doing, but for some reason they are speeding down that block at 40-miles per hour,” said Salimbene. “It was dangerous getting out of your car. If you opened your car door, you had better look first.”
It was especially dangerous at night with people wearing dark clothes or if a pedestrian was not paying attention, said Salimbene, adding that he thanked those who got the city to take action.
Senator Jeff Klein said that after the post requested the speed humps from his office, the NYC Department of Transportation quickly determined that they were a necessity.
“I want to thank the city DOT for their quick installation of the speed bumps, which will improve safety for the veterans and the surrounding community,” said Klein.
“We are very appreciative,” said Mangan, adding “Someone finally got behind it and got it done.”
