Fed up with speeding drivers along their street, some residents in Seattle's New Holly neighborhood took matters into their own hands. "We were seeing 35, 45 to 50-miles an hour traffic, " resident Johnny Arthurs told KOMO TV. "(We saw) people just flying through here. Usually this is a race track during the day." The band of neighbors raised $900 and purchased 12-foot speed bumps at Costco, cutting them in half and installing them along 39th Street, eight in all. Within weeks drivers started to slow down, but on Wednesday Seattle DOT officials removed the speed bumps, saying they were illegally installed without approval. "We can't have residents unilaterally put down their own speed bumps because that would create chaos for us across the city," said SDOT spokesman Rick Sheridan. Residents have complained for years about drivers using 39th to avoid nearby busy Martin Luther King Way, but Sheridan says the problems on 39th don't warrant speed bumps - those areas usually have 85 percent of cars driving 10 mph over the speed limit. SDOT does plan to install a traffic circle at 39th and South Holly Park Drive later this year, and crews will meet with neighbors to have a second look. (Via KOMO TV)
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