Request to Address Council by Beth Shank_Keyline Bus Route_Dove Street Speed LimitPage 1 of 2
Jeanne Schneider - Fw: Safety Concern
From: Beth Shank <bethannshank@yahoo.com>
To: <jschneid@cityofdubuque.org>, beth ann shank <bethannshank(a~yahoo.com>
Date: 04/29/2009 11:53 AM
Subject: Fw: Safety Concern
Hello,
I contact you today out of concern for my daughters safety. My family and I (husband, almost three year
old daughter, 1 year daughter, and myself) have lived at our home for going on 1 year now and feel
simply blessed to have such a great neighborhood and neighbors. When we first moved here our
youngest daughter was a few months old and I would say that I wasn't exactly that observant as to the
things happening outside. It took me a few months to realize that we were an official bus route and when
I finally did realize it my neighbors explained to me that this has always been a concern of theirs as well.
I chalked it up as something that I had no control over and I carried on with my 14 week maternity
leave. Like I stated earlier- I wasn't too worried about what was happening outside of my own four walls
during my maternity leave, my two very young daughters were keeping me extremely busy and there
was a lot to do with our brand new house.
Now that the nice weather is beginning, my family and I are very excited to be able to get outside and
enjoy this weather and the outdoor activities. I have had the last few weeks off of work so I have had a
lot of time home with my daughters and we have spent a lot of the time outdoors. In doing this I have
noticed that the city bus seems to go really fast down our little street. We live on Dove Street in between
Kaufmann and Meggan. The first few times that I was outside I tried to just ignore it and tell myself that
it was a big bus making a lot of noise; but, this is not the case. My mother was here last week and she
commented on how the bus seemed to be going fast as well. She got into her car and went up Dove
street going 25 miles an hour. That seemed to be fast as she came by our house so I am now wondering
if 25 is too fast for our little street. We have an unmarked intersection (completely blind) on Dove and
Waller which most certainly needs to be marked- and the portion of Dove that I live on is one blind
spot-- with two hills on either side of our house.
I called the police department last Saturday to see for sure what the speed limit is and they clarified that
it is indeed 25. I told them that I would like to make a complaint about the speed limit being to high for
our street and the fact that the bus travels at this speed as well. The women that I spoke to gave me the
number to call transit. I talked to the gentlemen at that number who basically said that there is nothing
he can do for because he does not make up the speed limit. He told me that he would come out and
watch the bus travel down the road to see if the person operating the bus it speeding. That is not my
concern-- I don't think that the bus is speeding, I simply think that the bus should not be going 25 miles
and hour down a residential street, a little one with hills and weird intersections at that.
So, I am coming to you today to figure out what I can do. First and for most there truthfully seems to be
no need to have a city bus on a residential street. I have never seen 1 person at the bus stop; which tells
me that it isn't needed.
I would like to see an explanation to why the city bus travels on my little residential street and more
importantly why it is allowed to trave125 miles and hour. Can you please provide me a few answers? I
would also like to know what my next steps would be in order to ideally get the bus an alternate route or
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to demand a lower speed limit.
What I would like to see happen is have the speed limit lowered on Dove Street.
I greatly appreciate your time in this matter and your prompt response,
Beth Shank
563-320-0857
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