Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


New digital speed signs have been approved for installation in the City of Howell, where excessive speeding has become an increasing problem.

Council met Monday night and approved the purchase of two sets of radar speed signs from Elan City at a cost of $12,398.

The City purchased a set of radar speed signs last fall that display a vehicle’s speed to help alert drivers of their speeds. The signs also collect traffic data for both directions of the road for future evaluations.

With a continuing uptick in complaints regarding speeding vehicles, staff budgeted to purchase two additional sets of radar speed signs in the current fiscal year.

Currently, a set of radar speed signs have been installed on East Clinton Street and are said to have been working well. Those were recently moved to a different location along East Clinton to address speeding near Hesse Street.

Staff noted that another nice feature of the signs is that they are temporary and can be easily moved to different locations or mounted on utility poles. The signs are solar powered and were said to be “really handy technology” as everything is wireless.

City Manager Erv Suida said they’ll start looking at locations and call Miss Dig to prepare to install them ahead of time so when they get the signs, they’ll be ready to go. He said they’ll work with the police chief on locations to figure out the best spots, while also taking public input into account.

Mayor Bob Ellis commented that the public has been complaining for awhile about speeding and it’s exciting to get the equipment. It was stated the new signs should arrive within two to four weeks.