Dear Briarcliff West Owner,
Over the years, many homeowners have requested speed control on N. Mulberry Drive. Some of the thru traffic along the length of Mulberry drives dangerously fast, weaving around parked cars and service/landscape trucks, creating unsafe conditions for all residents. Traffic studies in prior years indicate a significant number of thru vehicles use our neighborhood as a shortcut for both north and south travel. The BWCA Board made several formal applications for either stop signs, round-abouts or speed humps. All were denied.
At last, the City of Kansas City agreed last week to install four speed humps on N. Mulberry Drive. The City will use PIAC funds to cover the estimated $40,000 cost. Safety is the primary goal of this project. A secondary goal is to reduce or re-route the number of thru drivers that use our neighborhood to get to or from Vivion Road and Briarcliff Parkway.
Common sense dictates that speed humps be installed at reasonable distances from driveways and intersections. Placement on curves can adversely affect vehicle control if humps are encountered at high speeds. Specifically, "humps" is the appropriate engineering term that describes the speed reduction construction, not speed bumps or speed tables, both of which
impede speed but have other undesirable effects.
Because Mulberry has several hills, installed locations are somewhat limited. Humps cannot be placed on significant slopes or grades that could adversely impact winter driving on snow-packed or icy roads.
Specific locations will be determined using safety criteria established by the City's Public Works Department. The four most likely locations are along Mulberry between the 43rd Street and 47th Street intersections. Signs to alert drivers of the speed humps will be installed.
Most residents will not encounter a speed hump driving to or from their homes if they turn off Mulberry at one of the two limiting intersections, depending on the neighborhood entry they use. Residents on 43rd Place, Mulberry Court and along Mulberry Drive will encounter zero or two to four humps depending on the entry they choose. Drivers transiting the entire length of Mulberry will cross all four speed humps, achieving the primary goals for the installations: speed reduction or alternate routing.
Weather permitting, installation will begin in the next few weeks!
