After months of complaints about speeding in the Sebastian Hills neighborhood in south Fort Smith, the city is getting involved to reduce the number of speeders in the area.
Resident Carrie Takee and her husband have lived in the area for over 40 years. They say they haven’t noticed a speeding issue.
“Maybe there were a couple of people who were upset and wanted them to do something,” said resident Carrie Takee.
The City of Fort Smith says they conducted a study over speeding and are seeing a significant increase along Cliff Drive. Because of this, they made changes to encourage drivers to slow down. Devices called "traffic delineators" were added on September 9.
“I think that slowing down the speed of the area is fine,” said Sebastian Hills resident Ron Frederick. “I think they just could’ve gone about it with a little better use,” Fredrick continued.
Some neighbors agree speeding is an issue. However, they're also concerned about the safety of the new traffic slowing devices. They say the city never discussed with them and they're worried it could also devalue their homes.
“There is no notice that we saw anywhere inside our mail. I haven’t seen anything, I haven’t seen anything online for this. As we look for different things across the city.”
Fort Smith says they've tried multiple options to reduce the speeding including adding a temporary electronic radar sign but had no effect. The city also discussed placing speed tables in the area. However, that idea received a negative reaction from residents.
“Then we come back and they put these up,” said Takee speaking about the traffic delineators. “This is 10 times worse than even putting speed tables in.” Takee finished saying, “I mean you’re just asking for an accident to happen.” saying it was a bad move, especially for neighborhood pedestrians.
“I think they just came in and spent money without asking what the problem was,“ Frederick said asking why the city did not invest in speed bumps instead. “We can’t go walking through here just normally anyway. Just because there’s no sidewalks and now we’ve got those in the middle of our roads with nowhere for the cars to go because they can’t because of the barriers,” Frederick continued.
Neighbors are asking the city next time to consult with them.
“We personally lived in this neighborhood for over 40 years,” Takee said. “So, listen to the people who have lived in the neighborhood,” Takee continued.
The City of Fort Smith says the speed barriers will remain on the road for at least the next 3 months as they continue to collect data.