CINCINNATI — The city’s Department of Transportation and Engineering is piloting a new street calming measure in the neighborhood of Pendleton, east of Over-The-Rhine. A “stop bump” is the first-of-its-kind in the nation, said senior city planner Melissa McVay. The 3-inch high asphalt speed bump is installed at the same point as the stop sign at the intersection of 13th and Pendleton.
It’s the same intersection where WCPO previously reported a little boy broke away from his mother, ran into the crosswalk and was hit by a car that did not stop. After being lifted into the air and pushed back several feet, he got up unscathed. “Unfortunately, we’re finding more and more that signage alone just isn’t really effective,” McVay said.
“We’re needing to take more physical measures that actually force drivers to slow down when they might otherwise not choose to do so.” The department heard about the idea from a community council member who saw it in Mexico. “It’s more akin to what you’d find in a parking lot at a shopping mall .
.. where you really have to slow down to five or 10 miles per hour or slower in order to go over it,” McVay said.
It’s welcome news to residents in the neighborhood, said Pendleton Neighborhood Council president Abbey Tissot. “We've all had too many close calls, where we have the right to cross but vehicles didn't stop and it takes your breath away,” Tissot said. Since the pandemic, she said there’s been a noticeable redu.