CINCINNATI – The City of Cincinnati Department of Transportation & Engineering (DOTE) is installing a series of rubber speed cushions on Winneste Avenue as a pilot project to study whether the devices help slow traffic on this busy street in a residential area of Winton Hills.

Crews are expected to finish the installation this week.

The installation on Winneste is temporary. The speed cushions will be removed in December.

Speed cushions can be constructed of asphalt, concrete or rubber. Those on Winneste are made of rubber and will not hold up to the force of a snowplow.

“We chose Winneste Avenue as the location for our pilot project because of the large number of pedestrian crashes that have occurred on this street over the last three years,” said John Brazina, DOTE Director. “There are a lot of pedestrians in the area who cross Winneste to get to Winton Hills Recreation Center and Winton Hills Academy elementary school.”

This is the city’s first time to study speed cushions, which are like speed humps but with wheel cutouts to allow emergency vehicles to pass through without slowing down.

The speed limit on Winneste is 25 miles per hour. DOTE data shows that motorists routinely exceed the speed limit by at least 10 miles per hour on this street.

On a typical day, 95 percent of vehicles on Winneste exceeded the speed limit, based on a DOTE traffic study conducted in June. The study shows that the average speed was 37 miles per hour, and that 25 percent of those traveling on Winneste exceeded 40 miles per hour.

A pedestrian struck by a vehicle traveling at 40 miles per hour has an 80 percent likelihood of serious injury or fatality, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

DOTE is installing four sets of cushions between Strand Lane and Craft Street on Winneste and will collect more data this fall to determine if they are effective at reducing speeds.

If the results of DOTE’s study are favorable, the department will consider installing permanent speed cushions on Winneste and potentially other streets in the city as part of its pedestrian safety program.