Community Corner

Ellisville Considers Speed Tables, Double-Fines for Walmart Roadways

A double-fine zone for drivers caught speeding was just one of the ideas proposed Wednesday to reduce potential traffic issues at the site.

The on Wednesday discussed various proposals related to traffic safety in response to residents' concerns about the impact of a pending Walmart Superstore.

The commercial project, which will be facilitated by The Sansone Group after the city council this month for the space, will be located southwest of Manchester and Kiefer Creek roads.

Councilmember Roze Acup said she's heard from constituents who live nearby Manchester Road and Weis Avenue who expressed concerns about the project's expected impact on traffic.

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“And there’s already some issue with traffic, speeding particularly,” Acup said.

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Bill Menchak, 58, an Ellisville resident who lives on Weis Avenue, said he feared the store would lead to increased traffic on back roads such as Weis, Froesel Drive and Hutchison Road, which could be especially dangerous.

“Those streets house a daycare center, a church, a grade school … and it doesn’t take a whole lot of protocol to know that people are going to avoid Clarkson and Manchester.”

Councilmember Matt Pirrello said one “viable option” aimed at reducing speeding would be the installation of speed tables—scored portions of roadway or uneven platforms that limit the top speed for safe, controlled travel.

“Until you got to about 20 to 25 miles per hour, you can drive pretty well on them,” City Engineer Bill Schwer said. “When you exceed about 30 miles per hour, that’s when you’d run into problems and cars would bottom out and so forth. So they’re pretty effective.”

Councilmember Troy Pieper said that depending on residents’ support, he would back a zero-tolerance speeding area with a “double fine zone” for drivers cited for speeding.

“It would not take long to not have any additional problems,” Pieper said of a possible double fine zone.

A the close of Wednesday night's discussion, the council agreed to direct city staff to formally evaluate all roadways surrounding the project area, which should include sampling travel speeds and car counts, in order to identify potential problem areas.

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