Bumpy route to making King Street safe

The speed bump on a Franklin street has not stopped motorists from driving faster than the speed limit, and residents say the city needs to do more to make the area safer.

For years, residents have told the city that speeding on the section of King Street near Hurricane Street, where the Boys and Girls Club is located, has been a problem, and police and city officials have tried everything to prevent it, Franklin Police Department Chief Tim O’Sullivan said.

Now, the city plans to have police watch for speeders.

A few years ago, the city lowered the speed limit on that section of King Street to 20 mph and, in September 2011, the street department installed a speed hump in hopes of getting motorists to slow down, O’Sullivan said.

Motorists complained that the 10-inch-high speed hump caused damage to their cars and the city lowered the speed hump to the level of a speed bump, or about 3 inches, this summer.

Mayor Joe McGuinness said the speed hump did not work in preventing speeding, when it was 10 inches or 3 inches. In fact, the 10-inch-high hump had caused more problems because some motorists were using it as a launching ramp and seeing how far they could jump over it, McGuinness said.

Most recently, the city’s street department placed flashing lights near the speed bump to warn motorists to slow down, but they were stolen a few days ago, McGuinness said.

Now, the mayor has asked the police

department to send extra officers to patrol the area.

The department also will put up a flashing sign that tells residents how fast they are driving, O’Sullivan said.

“It’s an unsafe area. That’s the comments and concerns I’ve been getting from several citizens there. It’s to the point where they don’t care how much it costs to fix it, just fix it. And I agree,” McGuinness said.