‘Not Just Speed Bumps’ – Lou Savastani Tells Commissioners About Traffic Calming
At their regularly scheduled meeting (via Zoom) December 16, the Lower Merion Commissioners listened to Township-resident, Lou Savastani as he shared his thoughts about traffic calming.
Savastani is the Chair of Bike Montgomery County, and is the Founder of Lower Merion Safe Cycling.
He discussed his concern that “people use our roadways as an alternate to the region’s highways.” Savastani noted, “that of course is their right.” He also pointed out that “apps like Waze and Google Maps certainly don’t help.”
Savastani’s requests to the commissioners were as follows:
- Revise the township’s calming policy, which is essentially a speed bump policy. There are numerous other types of traffic calming that should be considered. Savastani also called for traffic calming in other parts of the township. Currently there there is only one street in the township with speed bumps. That’s Glenn Road, off of Mill Creek Road. Speed bumps have been approved for River Road, but they haven’t been installed yet.
- Adopt a Complete Streets Policy to improve the safety and efficiency of multi-modal transportation in the township.
Savastani conluded by calling the commissioners’ attention to a recent request that Haverford Township made to PennDot asking for a “Road Diet” study (a road diet refers to when a road is narrowed from four lanes to three, thus slowing traffic). In their request, Haverford expressed the hope that Lower Merion would join them. Savastani urged Lower Merion to join the request.