SHERWOOD, Ark. — The city of Sherwood continues to grow and the Doyles have witnessed that growth firsthand.
“We have been on in Sherwood since 1972 and at this Silver Creek address for 43 years,” said Bob Doyle.
Over the years Bob and his wife Diana have been advocating for something that will help put a stop to cars speeding through their neighborhood.
“We see little children playing basketball out in the street, or we see people riding bicycles when we see one man that we now have on a wheelchair electric wheelchair, using the walkway,” said Bob Doyle. “Who knows what a distracted or speeding driver is going to do?”
Sherwood Mayor Mary Jo Heye-Townsell explained that the Doyle’s aren't the only ones who've noticed this and asked for something to be done.
“Sherwood just kind of evolved, we didn't come about through long-term strategic planning and so as we kind of grew, streets, ended up with a lot more traffic than they were ever really intended to have,” said Heye-Townsell.
The Doyle’s said that the conversation first sparked in 1996, and the first solution that came to mind was speed bumps, but nothing was done because of concerns about how it would impact first responder vehicles.
The city has since found a way to solve that problem, by implementing ‘Speed Cushions.’
“The wheelbases can go through a speed cushion without having to slow down so your response times are not affected by it,” said Heye-Townsell. “You also can go over a speed cushion at 15 to 20 miles an hour.”
The Sherwood Public Works Department explained that the speed cushions are easy to remove if maintenance needs to be done and only take about five hours to install.
Several ‘Speed Cushions’ were installed this week along Silver Creek and the mayor says they hope to add more throughout the city.
“We got a good accurate monitoring of the street before and then we'll be able to get the speeds monitoring it afterward. So, we can tell the effect that it's having,” Heye-Townsell described.
The Doyles are thankful to welcome these speed cushions to the neighborhood.
“We love the newest addition,” said Doyle.