Asphalt Uprising: The Standoff On Gold Star Drive Over A Speed Bump

Traffic calming measures led to civil unrest earlier this year when residents of Gold Star Drive rallied together to prevent the town from removing a beloved, but illegal, speed bump that had been accidentally installed on the road.

In 2023, a request was made for the installation of a speed hump on Gold Star Drive. A speed hump, Department of Public Works (DPW) director Drew Patnode said, is “very different” from a speed bump. Bumps are more abrupt than humps, which means cars make more noise when they go over them.

While speed data didn’t indicate that a hump was needed, the island’s Traffic Safety Staff Work Group voted to recommend one, in part because of Gold Star Drive’s unique status as a connector - which some use as a shortcut - between Old South Road and Sparks Avenue. The Select Board voted to approve the installation of a speed hump, and the DPW set out to install it.

The trouble started immediately: due to parking concerns, the initially approved location had to be shifted approximately 30 feet. And then Patnode made a critical mistake.

“No schedule was provided for the installation, and eventually, on a slow day, after finishing up a smaller paving job elsewhere on-island, [paving company Victor-Brandon president Victor Petkauskos] called me and said he could install the traffic calming device,” Patnode said. “At this point, I told him over the phone that the speed bump was marked out on the road and ready for his crew. This proved costly.”

The mistake? Patnode said bump. He meant hump.

The residents of 6 Gold Star Drive, located across the street from the bump, took umbrage with it, at least in the new location. The bump, they felt, was “affecting the quiet enjoyment of this property and their quality of life.” So they hired an attorney.

“It's really, really a problem for my clients,” the attorney, Sarah Alger, said. “I don't think one of my clients has slept in the last month and a half. She's a wreck over this.”

That month and a half of sleep lost isn’t entirely the town’s fault, though. After the town realized its mistake, town manager Libby Gibson told Victor-Brandon to remove the bump. A team was dispatched for what should have been a routine, uneventful operation. But the residents of Gold Star Drive weren’t about to lose the traffic calming device they had lobbied for - whether it was a bump or a hump.

“Upon arrival, according to the foreman, about a dozen people approached the crew and refused to allow the removal of the speed bump,” Patnode said. “Based on the atmosphere that I could sense over the phone from Madaket, I instructed them to leave the speed bump as is for now.”

Patnode organized a meeting with abutters to explain the situation, and a couple of them suggested that the real problem was that there weren’t enough speed humps. They wanted three, a proposal the Traffic Safety Staff Work Group had previously not opted to recommend.

But after Patnode reported back what he’d seen on Gold Star Drive and the work group took a closer look at the road’s high usage rates, they decided to recommend the installation of three speed humps—not bumps—on Gold Star Drive. This would also involve removing the existing bump.

Now, the town is looking for two-thirds support from abutters for the installation of the humps. In the meantime, the bump has stayed.

Of the 14 abutters, nine have expressed their preferences to the town so far. Seven are in favor of three humps, one is opposed, and one is fine with two humps, but not three. To get to two-thirds, the town needs three more abutters to come out in favor of the project.

In case more neighbors agree that two is the magic number, the Select Board issued a conditional approval for the installation of up to three speed humps on Gold Star Drive.

“As long as they're humps,” chair Dawn Hill Holdgate said.

The approval also requests the removal of the bump currently on the road.

“It's not what we approved,” Select Board member Malcolm MacNab said. “It's an illegal bump, and we should enforce our rules.”

While the bump may calm traffic, it certainly isn’t calming Gold Star Drive.

“I think it highlights the inherent challenges of traffic calming elements. It's not easy by any means to locate them effectively while also keeping everybody happy,” Patnode said. “Everyone's opinion of what is appropriate and will be effective differs.”