Neighbors riled up over need to calm traffic

Mar. 2—HERMITAGE — Hermitage officials could evaluate a few options for calming traffic across the city, with one neighborhood drawing particular attention.

Residents of Ridgewood Drive and the adjacent Hunters Woods development have been debating over possible speeding issues.

At a city commissioners' work session last month, Stephanie Albert of Ridgewood Drive said she was concerned not just about children playing in their front yards along the street but that people can't go to their mailboxes or garbage cans without the possibility of being hit by passing vehicles.

She said the city has tried some measures, including increased police enforcement, but only to temporary effect, as speeders would slow down for only a week or two, then resume driving at their usual speeds.

"There is no solution but a permanent solution," Albert said.

Ridgewood Drive serves as the only access from North Keel Ridge Road into the Hunters Woods development. Ridgewood Drive residents like Albert say drivers going to and from Hunters Woods travel along Ridgewood at unsafe speeds.

Hunters Woods residents have countered by saying that parked cars on both sides of Ridgewood Drive pose safety hazards as well.

The city has been working on traffic-calming measures in the area, including discussion at a meeting in July.

Fellow Ridgewood Drive resident Scott Kalmanek said he lived in the neighborhood for 30 years and originally fought against the Hunters Woods development because of the single ingress and egress for the development — Ridgewood Drive, a single road for both Hunters Woods residents and other vehicles such as deliveries.

Marti Grata of Foxwood Drive said cars parked along Ridgewood Drive are dangerous for drivers trying to navigate and for children playing in the area.

Her husband, Mel Grata, also spoke during the meeting, and said he would be open to any measures — from increased police enforcement to speed humps — to alleviate the issue. Speed humps are raised sections of roadway that adjust less abruptly than speed bumps.

He expressed the hope that residents from both neighborhoods could come together on the issue, after what he called heated interactions in the past.

"It's turning into the Hatfields and McCoys, and I don't think anyone from Ridgewood or Hunters Woods wants that," he said.

During the work session, Hermitage police Chief Eric Jewell said a traffic study of the area found only "minor violations" and that data collected did not indicate a need for additional measures.

"The data just isn't there, from what I've seen," Jewell said at the work session.

Hermitage City Manager Gary Hinkson said said the city has three options for addressing the issues, as soon as this month's city commissioners' meeting:

— Continue current police enforcement efforts, such as the use of speed-monitoring signs.

— A city-wide traffic calming program to see if Ridgewood Drive meets criteria for traffic calming devices, such as speed humps.

— Use Ridgewood Drive as a pilot program for traffic-calming devices, study the effects and move forward with a traffic calming plan for the city.

Hinkson said he has a draft traffic-calming plan, but commissioners would have to determine some details — including determining who would pay for the measures — before approval.

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