DEWAYNE HOLLOWAY
montcnews2@windstream.net
NORMAN – Gurdon Street has reopened to car traffic after city employees installed a series of speed bumps on the street.
Mayor Roseanna Markham was excited to announce the reopening of the street to through traffic. She stated that she hopes the speed bumps are able to “make everyone happy.”
City employees installed a pair of speed bumps on Gurdon Street just before the stop sign where the street intersects with West Main Street. There are also a set of speed bumps on either end of the one lane bridge on Gurdon Street. The bridge is located between Hattie Street and Water Tower Street. It is not rated to hold any vehicles weighing more than six tons.
As a result of the weight limit on the bridge, Gurdon Street has been closed to truck traffic. There is a sign stating such on the North end of Gurdon and Mayor Markham stated they would be installing “no trucks” signs at other locations along the street shortly.
Markham added that there are some blue barrels bordering private property at the intersection of Gurdon and West Main Streets. She explained that they were in place to prevent motorists from driving onto the private property in an attempt to avoid the speed bumps.
The Mayor hopes everyone will be mindful of private property along the Gurdon Street, and other streets, as the make their way through town.
The street was temporarily closed in June after the Mayor had received several complaints of fast and reckless driving on Gurdon Street. The street had previously had speed bumps installed to slow the flow of traffic. The old speed bumps had been removed when the street was resurfaced recently and had not been reinstalled until last week.
Mayor Markham had explained that a lot of people will cut through the street to avoid the Highway 8/27 South intersection in Norman. The Mayor stated that if someone does this they have to drive fast to get ahead of the traffic at the intersection.
