Plans dismissed for speed bumps on busy Tividale road over fears around noise
Road chiefs have ruled out putting speed humps along a busy Sandwell road, citing fears that the noise could give residents sleepless nights.
Sandwell Council this week dealt with a petition by residents concerned about a stretch of Oakham Road, Tividale, near the GP surgery.
They had called for steps to improve safety and visibility on the route, which gets particularly congested at peak times.
The highways team said they had previously looked at options for a traffic-calming scheme but there were a number of problems.
Addressing the petitions committee, council officer Robin Weare said: “When we’ve done schemes like this in the past, on roads with high volumes of traffic, putting humps in, for example, causes vibration and noise.
“That keeps the residents awake and we get petitions to remove the traffic-calming schemes afterwards.”
He also argued that measures weren’t supported by the accident history on the Sandwell side of the road, which crosses into neighbouring Dudley.
According to the data for the stretch between Hoylake Drive and the council boundary there have been two recorded injury accidents in the past five years.
“We need to prioritise our limited funding to other areas where the accidents are much higher,” he added.
Changes to the footway at the location were also ruled out, to the disappointment of those who had called for action.
The committee agreed to close the petition at their meeting this week.
