SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Humps? Lumps? Undulations?
Sacramento has some wacky names for what most of us call "speed bumps." Turns out, those names are unique to Sacramento. According to Traffic Investigator LoAnna Hernandez, you won't find any "speed bumps" in the city limits.
"Speed bumps are only on private property," Hernandez said.
Instead of "speed bumps" Sacramento installed "undulations." Those are the ones with two humps, 30 feet apart. Two speed humps are better than one. That was Sacramento's thinking prior to 1996, but undulations ended up costing the city twice as much to install. That's when they came up with the single hump, but the hump has one problem.
"The problem is the response time for the fire department," Hernandez said.
Fire trucks need to get places fast. The hump slowed them down, but in February of 2000, the city came up with the "lump." Those are the ones with grooves in the middle.
Still confused about the differences? Let me explain. Let's start with speed lumps. They are a hump, but they have these two gaps in the middle specifically designed so firetrucks can go over the hump without bouncing all over the place.
Speed tables are essentially the same as a hump, the only difference is that they have a 10-foot-wide flat top. As for raised crosswalks, they are the same as speed tables with extra markings, and you will only see these near a school, park, or apartment.
The city of Sacramento makes all their speed lump signs locally. That means you won't find lumps in the county, or anywhere else in the state, for that matter. If you want a speed lump outside your house you are going to need to get approval from 10 of your neighbors and request a traffic study from the City of Sacramento Speed Lump Program.
Just in case you are wondering, Sacramento has:
• 552 undulations
• 1,220 speed humps
• 993 speed lumps
• 19 traffic tables
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