Community to get a say in speed sign locations

For several years, Creston has utilized digital speed signs on Townline and Elm streets near the schools to slow traffic. Now, five more signs will be added to the city’s 55 miles of roadway.

Though the signs will come at a total cost of $14,965, studies show the signs are effective in slowing traffic.

Radarsign reports when alerted by a radar sign, speeders will slow down up to 80% of the time. Average speed reductions are 10-20%, and overall compliance with the posted speed limit will increase by 30-60%.

Creston City Council approved the purchase in a 4-2 vote Tuesday. Kiki Scarberry and Brenda Keate voted no. The purchase comes with a one-year free trial of cloud access where the signs’ data could be accessed from anywhere.

Scarberry’s concerns were based on hidden annual fees regarding software updates, but Police Chief Paul Ver Meer, who was not at the meeting, said there are none.

“After the first year we can still have cloud access if you wanted,” Ver Meer explained. “The other signs we’ve had for eight years maybe and they are still working fine. We can still access that data through Bluetooth. With the cloud I can access the data through our office. I would doubt after the first year we would sign up for the expense.”

Ver Meer and council members have ideas for where to place the signs, but also want community input.

“I know one place I’d like to see is Spruce Street coming out of the high school,” councilman Matt Levine said. “I’d like to see one there. I’ve seen plenty of people flying down that road coming out of the high school.”

City Administrator Mike Taylor explained once the poles have been put in the ground, the transmitters can be moved to wherever the police department sees fit.

“I get a lot of complaints about speed on Sycamore and the Lincoln area,” Ver Meer said. “I’d like to have some of those available for the public to let us know where they’d like them.”

Scarberry said seven was a lot to have in town, but Levine disagreed.

“One of the original questions we had was, do they work? And yeah, they do,” Levine said. “There’s a 300 page report that we read the summary of.”

The Traffic Logix signs are the same as the existing two signs and will be purchased using the city’s ARPA funds.

“The study says when the sign shows up as someone’s moving down the road and it starts flashing at you, people slow down,” Taylor said. “That’s the main focus of the signs themselves.”