Jan 11, 2019 3 min read

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East Washington Borough Council Tuesday held a discussion about speed bumps that police Chief David Bradley said have been effective in reducing speeding on borough streets, but which do not meet the state Department of Transportation guidelines for reimbursement of liquid fuels tax money the borough receives every year.

Bradley emphasized that the speed bumps, which were installed in July 2017, are not illegal and that the borough is not required to remove them.

“(PennDOT) did not call for us to remove speed bumps. What they said was, if you don’t remove them, you may lose liquid fuels (money),” said Bradley. “The second thing is that those speed bumps that the borough has on its roadways are fine, as long as you are willing to lose your liquid fuels (money). Those are borough roadways, those are not state roadways, (and) they can’t force you to comply with anything. They’re telling the borough if you don’t move those, they’ll pull their money, that’s it.”

PennDOT sent the borough a letter following a Dec. 12 borough council meeting that was attended by an agency representative, and advised council members the speed bumps don’t match state guidelines. The borough was given 30 days to remove the speed bumps, or lose about $2,000 of liquid fuels money for the portion of the roadway on which they remain installed.

Money from the state tax on gasoline and other liquid fuels is divided among municipalities based on their population and total road mileage. The funds can cover road projects such as street repairs and construction. East Washington’s allotment last year was more than $58,000.

Said councilwoman Maryann Weinstein, who attended the Dec. 12 meeting, “I got the impression that we can keep the bumps if we like them, and we feel they serve a purpose. We can keep the bumps and forego the (few thousand dollars a year), out of a total of about $55,000.”

Councilman Jerad Cypher said safety is the borough’s top priority and noted the speed bumps have been effective. The speed bumps are designed to slow traffic to between 5 to 10 mph, and drivers must come to a near complete stop before driving over them.

The borough considered installing the seven speed bumps for about a year-and-a-half before they were approved by council in 2016 and installed in July 2017.

Cypher said the borough did “due diligence,” and worked with engineers and PennDOT to undertake traffic counts, cost justification, and traffic studies.

The borough’s speed bumps meet other PennDOT reimbursement guidelines for signs, roadway markings and placement.

Initially, borough residents were evenly split over the speed bumps, but Bradley said they seem to have become popular with residents.

During Tuesday’s borough council meeting, council members voted unanimously to acknowledge receipt of the letter from PennDOT and to note council’s discussion.