McComb officials are looking to control speeding in the city and deal with the intersection in East McComb residents say is extremely dangerous.
During the first work session of the city board since July, Selectman Devante Johnson asked about solutions to a speeding problem in his ward on Avenue E, which was brought up by a resident of the area a month ago.
Public Works Director Alice Barnes said she had priced the speed humps but forgot them in her office. Johnson asked her to bring them at the next board meeting.
Barnes said that it would be up to the police to also decide where speed humps get installed, but she added that she recently got the city’s speed signs, which display the speed of cars in real time, upgraded, so the city could place those signs to monitor the areas.
Deputy Chief Rodney Nordstrom agreed to monitor the areas named and make a request for speed humps.
Selectman Ronnie Brock noted that Wall Street also had a speeding problem, which was brought to the board’s attention by a resident at a previous board meeting, adding he believes one of the signs should go there so that work on slowing the speeding traffic can begin.
“To be honest and frank, Wall Street had already requested something, so I don’t want to see them get put on the end,” he said, and Johnson responded that one sign could go on Avenue E and the other on Wall Street.
Brock and Johnson agreed it would be good to place the signs in the area, but Barnes also noted there were only two of the machines.
Nordstrom said speed humps are a touchy subject in that if you give one street one, then every street will want them, and the cost can be expensive, adding that the bumps on Marion Avenue were paid for by Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center and the bumps on Beech street that were recently added were done by the direction of the McComb Housing Authority.
Barnes said that the problem with speed humps and speed bumps is that residents have and will call threatening to sue the public works department for the humps dragging the bottom of their car.
Johnson then asked about the intersection of North Cherry Street and Avenue E, which has issues with frequent wrecks. Barnes said she was not “passing the buck,” noting that she went to the area and trimmed the bush after the fourth wreck. She said that it was up to the police department to recommend changes like four-way stops. She comes in to execute the installation of the signage.
Nordstrom agreed with Barnes, noting that he believed the intersection needed to be a four-way stop, but Chief Garland Ward would have to sign off on it.
