ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — St. Louis County is working to reduce speeding in the Castle Point neighborhood.
Starting Monday, a two-day speed reduction demonstration will take place on Royal Drive and Princess Drive.
From 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., transportation crews installed tires, hazard cones and flexible curbing on the pavement to slow down drivers.
St. Louis County Department of Transportation created makeshift medians, s-shaped curves, and chokers to squeeze in the roads.
This makes drivers more aware of their speed.
Concerns
Studies show that speeding and crashes are serious problems in Castle Point.
Many of the streets in the Castle Point neighborhood are long and straight, which could lead to speeding drivers.
There's also growing concern for the children walking to and from school.
For 12 years, living on the corner of Princess and Royal Drive, Julian Jones has seen cars zoom on by with crashes to follow.
"There was one car they flipped over, I had to jump outside the house grab the daughter and help grab him out. A Cadillac ran into that house right over there, went right in and bam," Jones says.
He explains his own car was hit by a speedy driver.
"We've been asking for a lot of help in this area. For some reason, it's been avoided," Jones shares.
Possible solutions
Councilwoman Shalonda Webb knows this has been an issue for years.
That's why over a year ago, she reached out to St. Louis County's Department of Transportation for possible solutions and they got to work.
"I know when we think of speeding, the community thinks about stop signs and speed bumps and that may not be the perfect solution," she says.
She's learned there are other ways to really make a dent in this problem.
Adam Spector is the North and West Area Engineer for the St. Louis Department of Transportation.
"Stop signs are not an effective means of traffic calming," Spector said. "As everyone in the St. Louis area has seen, some people use them as yields where people roll through them a lot, so they don't do a lot to slow traffic down."
Spector also said speed bumps can work but they may not be the best in this case.
This is why they are trying other options with chokers, s-shaped curves, and medians.
The goal of this demonstration is to find what slow-down measures would best serve the community.
Even though this speeding demonstration is at the intersection of Princess and Royal Drive, any improvements coming would happen to the entire neighborhood.
While it's just a demo for now, Jones is ready for the change.
This can be a way to avoid any more harm and potentially save a life.
"We wish for it to get better, we've been waiting for it to get better," Jones notes.
What's next
This is part of the Castle Point improvements project, which begins this summer.
St. Louis County is seeking more opinions on how to improve the safety of the neighborhood. You can find the survey online here.
Once the temporary demonstration has ended, the St. Louis County Department of Transportation will review the survey and data gathered.
Then they will begin designing a more permanent solution.
A consultant is scheduled to begin outlining long-term plans by the end of July 2022.
Construction is tentatively scheduled for the spring of 2023.
If you have questions about the Castle Point Improvement project or the Speed Reduction Demonstration solutions being considered, please contact Area Engineer Adam Spector at ASpector@stlouiscountymo.gov / 314-615-8563.