- June 21, 2025
The Palm Coast City Council has decided to move forward with creating a traffic calming manual for the city's residential streets, despite pushback from some residents.
"To me, inconveniencing people is worth slowing them down a little bit - if it's working," Pontieri said.
The city completed a pilot program - performed by the firm Kimley-Horn - testing the placement of three different kinds of traffic calming installations: speed cushions, lane narrowing and chicanes, a curve placed on the roadway to force drivers to slow down. The program also included a survey section to gauge the response from residents.
The study showed that the speed cushions at least had a significant impact on reducing speed in the areas they were installed. The city installed cushions at four locations along each Florida Park Drive and Cimmaron Drive and the data showed that most drivers reduced their speeds by 4-5 mph on average.
Now, the council has decided to move forward with creating a traffic calming manual for the city. It would include an application process where neighborhoods could request speed cushions could be installed.
"It wouldn't be us saying, let's put some here, put some there," Councilman Ty Miller said. "It would be based on this data...And then going forward, a process by which the residents can request those speed bumps."
Kimley-Horn's Emmanuel Rodriguez did recommend that the city decide on a threshold of support - he suggested 70% of a neighborhood's residents - be met before the speed cushions were installed. Miller agreed, saying he wanted to prevent a scenario where the city would have to turn around and removed installations.
"I don't want to throw them everywhere based on a singular policy," Miller said. "I don't want us to get into a situation where we're spending money and then pulling stuff out and spending money to pull it out."
Despite the safety concerns of some residents, overall, the majority of speakers at the council meeting were against the traffic calming installations, particularly in the C Section.
Catherine Tubb said she has some of the speed cushions directly in front of her home. She said the speeding continues, but now there is more traffic and she is constantly hears the sounds of vehicles going over the bumps and then speeding back up.
"It's been absolutely horrible since these have been put in,” Tubb said. “We want them removed.”
Many C Section residents signed a petition asking for the speed cushions to be removed from Cimmaron Drive. Resident Joann Alberico, one of residents who signed the petition, said she and her neighbors have seen an increase in traffic incidents since the cushions were installed.
“I submit that the speed bumps on Cimarron do not create a safer environment for drivers or pedestrians, but in fact are creating more hazards, inconvenience and safety issues,” she said.
COUNCIL TO RECONSIDER LOWERING SPEED LIMITS?
After hearing the negative feedback from so many residents, particularly in the C Section, the council decided to remove the speed cushions installed on Cimmaron Drive.
"I think from what we're hearing from the community, Cimmaron is not the street," Mayor Mike Norris said.
The ones on Florida Park Drive will stay, at least until the application process is finalized and the neighborhood residents can vote on the keeping cushions or not themselves. But the council is not limiting itself to just installing traffic calming fixtures.
Many residents who spoke up against the speed cushions instead called for the city to lower speed limits and increase enforcement in the areas.
Pontieri said that while the city cannot control where the Flagler County Sheriff's Office patrols or how often, she is open to reconsidering lowering the speed limits.
Councilman Dave Sullivan pointed out that Flagler Beach recently lowered its speed limits. "It does work," he said.
But lowering the speed limits comes with a larger price tag than installing traffic calming methods. It cost the city around $20,000 to install the eight speed cushion locations, Acting City Manager Lauren Johnston said, while a study completed in June 2024 showed that to reduce the speed limits from 30 mph to 25 mph in residential neighborhoods would cost closer to $2 million.
Pontieri said the price tag could be worth it.
"I still think that is something that we should explore," she said. "So, in my mind, this analysis is not done yet."
Her fellow council members agreed and the council directed staff to look into adding the cost of lowering the speed limits to the upcoming budget cycle.
"Let's look at all the options," Councilman Charles Gambaro said. "I think we've got some great test cases on how we can test the application process, but I think we need to take a hard look at reducing the speed limit overall."
