Speed Bumps Shake Up Residents In New Tampa Complex

NEW TAMPA - Residents of Cypress Run Apartment Homes say they have two choices leaving their parking lot. They can pull out onto busy Bruce B. Downs Boulevard or attempt something even more treacherous: navigating the new speed bumps at their complex.

The five bumps in quick succession are causing so much consternation at the sprawling Cypress Run complex that several residents held protest signs on Monday. Passersby honked and yelled in solidarity.

The word "remove" is spray painted in blue on two of the bumps, and at least one resident posted a video on Google documenting several vehicles as they crossed. The video shows a sedan bouncing so much a thump is heard when its undercarriage slams onto a bump.

"It's the stupidest idea," said Cypress Run resident Ben Gilley as he pulled his Pontiac Grand Prix into the complex today. "If you stop you get stuck, and then you have to rock back and forth. They're too close together."

Residents say three of the bumps have been there for years but two bumps with square instead of rounded edges appeared a few weeks ago, apparently to discourage Cypress Run residents from driving through Eagles Point, the apartment complex next door.

The five bumps are in quick succession, spaced 5 to 6 feet apart, and cars can get sandwiched between them if they move too slowly. That forces drivers to rev the engine to build up enough power to cross.

Others try crossing in one motion, but if their cars move too fast they'll bounce up and down and bottom out on one of the bumps.

"They're ridiculous. I just got my alignment fixed and now I have to worry about this," Cristine Cannata said Tuesday afternoon through the window of her Volvo.

Signs warn motorists as they approach the bumps and note the road is for "Emergency Vehicles Only." Some drivers said they'd rather risk damaging their cars than use the other entrance and pull out onto Bruce B. Downs.

"It takes too long and sometimes the traffic is too heavy; you just can't get out," Chanel Geoghegan said of the Bruce B. Downs exit.

William McIver, who lives at Eagles Point across from the speed bumps, said he hears tires spinning at all hours as drivers try to figure out how to navigate the bumps.

"It doesn't make much sense to me," he said.

Debbie Herrington, the city's transportation engineer, said she contacted Eagles Point's management on Monday and was told it has no plans to remove the bumps.

AMD Property Management, the Los Angeles-based parent company of Eagles Point Apartments, said the bumps were installed at the request of Eagles Point residents to discourage people who don't live there from using "the road as a raceway."

"We've had all kinds of problems with tenants in other properties going by with excessive speed," said John McKee, senior vice president of AMD.

"This is just another effort to slow them down," he said. "What people are upset about is that people can't go through at 30 or 40 mph."

Tampa Fire Rescue will check later on whether the bumps can damage fire or rescue vehicles, but if the department finds no objection, there's nothing more the city can do, Herrington said.

"They're on private property so they're not in our area," she said.

The city sometimes installs speed bumps, but they're rounded on top, not squared off. "I've never seen anything like that," said Herrington. "They look like curbs."