Detroit Adding 312 Speed Humps in 2026 Across 230 Streets

Detroit is adding 312 new speed humps across 230 streets this year, the city announced, as the program hits its 10-year mark since launching in 2016. Over that decade, crews have installed 11,412 speed humps on residential streets throughout the city, a number that reflects both the scale of the speeding problem and the sustained push to address it neighborhood by neighborhood.

Residents who do not want speed humps installed on their street have until April 24 to opt out. The city has posted a full list of targeted streets along with opt-out instructions on its website.

The program focuses on 25 mph residential streets, with priority given based on proximity to schools and parks, crash history, speeding data, and feedback from residents. That combination of hard data and community input shapes where the humps go each year, and 2026’s round of installations reflects the same formula the city has used since the beginning.

For Shervin Hazel, who has lived on Braile Street near Clarita for 15 years, the news that his street is on this year’s list came as a relief. Speeding has been a persistent problem on the block, and he has watched drivers blow through the residential street for years without consequence.

“The drivers are like bats out of hell,” Hazel said. “They have no regards, no regards for anything.”

He said his neighbors feel the same way. “I’m not the only one that’s saying it. I know a lot of people around here would welcome that, they would love it,” Hazel said.

His sentiment tracks with what the city hears repeatedly when it surveys residents ahead of installations. Speeding on residential streets is not a fringe complaint. It shows up in neighborhoods across Detroit, from the east side to the far west side, and it disproportionately affects blocks where children play outside, where parks draw foot traffic, and where pedestrians cross without the protection of a signal or crosswalk.

Asia Jackson lives near a park on Lamphere near Puritan, a west side street that already has speed humps installed. She described watching drivers fly through at dangerous speeds while kids are outside.

“A lot of kids like to play basketball in the street and next thing you know, someone’s flying down the street doing 50, it’s crazy,” Jackson said.

Her take on the humps themselves is candid. They work, but they are not exactly pleasant. “I like ‘em, I think they keep the neighborhood safe, keep the kids safe,” she said. “They are annoying, but I think they’re protecting the neighborhood.”

That tension, between effectiveness and everyday inconvenience, runs through nearly every conversation about the program. Speed humps do what they are designed to do. Drivers slow down. But slowing down 30 times on a short commute, or bouncing over a hump in a low-clearance vehicle, or navigating one in winter conditions, adds friction to daily life that some residents feel acutely.

Jonathan Clark lives on a street that already has eight speed humps installed, placed there roughly four years ago. He does not dispute that they reduce speeds. His frustration is with the density.

“Eight speed humps on one block? Come on now, that’s ridiculous,” Clark said. “On some roads, it is helpful to have them, but for 8 speed humps? Come on.”

Clark’s complaint points to a real design question the city has to weigh as the program matures. Placement frequency matters. Too few humps on a long stretch, and a driver can accelerate between them and reach dangerous speeds again before the next one. Too many, and residents feel like they are living on an obstacle course. Finding that balance on a block-by-block basis, across hundreds of streets with different lengths, traffic volumes, and layouts, is more complicated than it might appear from the outside.

The speed hump itself is distinct from a speed bump, a difference worth understanding. Speed bumps are the aggressive, shorter barriers common in parking lots. Speed humps are longer and more gradual, designed for street use. A driver traveling at the posted speed limit feels minimal disruption crossing one. A driver traveling at 40 mph in a 25 mph zone feels a jolt significant enough to make them think twice. That calibration is intentional. The hump rewards compliance and penalizes excess.

Detroit has spent millions on the program over its 10-year run, and the investment has drawn scrutiny from some quarters. Critics have pointed to the city’s pockmarked road surfaces and questioned whether funds devoted to speed humps would be better spent on basic repaving. Supporters counter that the two issues operate on different timelines and different funding streams, and that waiting for perfect road conditions before addressing traffic safety is a losing proposition.

The data the city uses to select streets does carry weight. Crash records and speed enforcement data identify which blocks see the most dangerous behavior. Proximity to schools and parks adds a layer of vulnerability assessment. When a street scores high on multiple criteria, it rises on the priority list. That system has driven 10 years of installations and now accounts for more than 11,000 individual humps across the city.

This year’s 312 new installations will push that total higher and extend coverage to streets that residents have been requesting for years. The opt-out window, open through April 24, gives neighborhoods a formal mechanism to push back if they feel the tradeoff is not worth it. How many streets will opt out this cycle is unclear, but the window exists precisely because the city has tried to make the program collaborative rather than purely top-down.

For residents like Hazel on Braile Street, the opt-out option is beside the point. He wants the humps. He has watched speeding go unaddressed on his block for over a decade, and the prospect of a physical intervention that does not depend on police presence or enforcement resources is appealing. A speed hump works around the clock without overtime pay.

That passive, continuous nature of the intervention is part of what makes the program durable. Traffic enforcement requires officers, scheduling, and presence. Speed humps require asphalt and maintenance. Once installed, they impose a physical constraint that drivers cannot talk their way past or wait out. The infrastructure becomes the enforcer.

As the program enters its second decade, the city faces the question of what comes next. More than 11,400 humps across a city the size of Detroit represents meaningful coverage, but it is not saturation. Plenty of residential streets remain untouched. Residents continue to submit requests. The annual cycle of surveys, prioritization, and installation will continue as long as speeding remains a problem, and there is little indication that speeding in Detroit’s residential neighborhoods is anywhere close to resolved.

Spring installation work typically begins once crews can operate in stable conditions, and 2026 should follow the same seasonal rhythm. Residents on this year’s list of 230 streets who want to confirm their location or review the opt-out process have until April 24 to act. After that deadline, planning moves forward and the machinery of the program grinds ahead toward another summer of installations.

For the neighbors, the debate will keep going. Some will welcome the humps the way Hazel does, as overdue relief on streets where reckless driving has gone unchecked for years. Others will share Clark’s frustration about density and disruption. Jackson’s position, somewhere in the middle, might be the most honest summary of how a lot of Detroit residents feel about the program: it’s working, it’s a little annoying, and it’s better than the alternative.