Sidney resident raises concerns over speeds in neighborhood

SIDNEY, NE — Sidney resident Mindy Estrada says her mom’s car was totaled last month while it was sitting in her driveway.

She says that’s just one example of the dangerous driving going on in her neighborhood. Tuesday she went to city council to look for solutions.

“The amount of children on that street, elderly walking their dogs, I’m just terrified,” Estrada said. “Absolutely terrified.”

Estrada lives on Summit Drive in Sidney. She says speeding along her street has become such an issue that it’s not a matter of if someone gets hurt. It’s a matter of when.

“My children are not allowed in the front yard,” Estrada said. “We do not live in the front living room because I swear a vehicle is going to end up in our front living room.”

Tuesday night, Estrada proposed to the city council installing a pair of stop signs along her street. One at the intersection of Summit Drive and Verde Lane. The other at the Alvarado Road intersection. City officials weren’t optimistic on going that route. Just months ago, the city was told a busier intersection in town didn’t meet the criteria for having a stop sign or traffic light installed.

Currently, the only stop sign on Summit Drive is at the intersection of 11th Avenue.

Another solution proposed was speed bumps, but that presented obstacles of its own.

“The other one is 66 percent of residents around there have to sign off that they wanted it,” Sidney street superintendent Hank Radtke said. “That was just to get a request.”

Radtke says another requirement is having 1,000 cars take the road daily on average. Officials aren’t confident that would be met.

“Then they would have to do an engineering study, just like we would have to hire and engineer,” Radtke said explaining the process other cities have gone through to install speed bumps in a residential area.

Estrada visited the city council three years ago with similar concerns. City officials at the time installed a speed limit sign The city has also installed a permanent speed limit sign previously.

For now while the search for a solution continues, the city plans to start with more enforcement in the area.

“We’ll see where we can get with that,” Sidney mayor Roger Gallaway. “Short of that, pulling more of that community together to see what their thoughts are for ideas and plans as well.”

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