MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. — Residents along a sleepy, riverside street are concerned about safety. It was compounded after a dangerous crash Thursday in Merritt Island.

  • Residents on South Tropical Trail concerned about road's safety
  • Speeds humps on road replaced when crews were repaving the road
  • According to residents, the speed humps were never put back
  • More Brevard County coverage

Word spread quickly Thursday about the metal wrenching collision on the narrow stretch of South Tropical Trail. The small two lane roadway that parallels the Indian River was shut down for hours.

Gary Helton is a former traffic engineer who lives just down from the crash site. He picked his house because it was on a 25 mph, scenic street away from the hustle and bustle.​

"I played in the street for a living," Helton said of his work. "This is really unusual; it's (the road) grandfathered in.

When Helton moved here three years ago, there were seven speed humps positioned across two miles of street. The humps had been installed back in 1992 due to an uptick in crashes — some fatal.

This portion of South Tropical was repaved back in March.

"As part of the repaving process, they had to eradicate the humps to repave," Helton said. "Why would you not put back what was here and worked for 30 years?"

Signs warning drivers of upcoming speed humps are now covered with plastic.

Helton says the county sent residents a ballot to vote to reinstall them. But it required 85 percent saying “yes.”

"We believe they were removed as a convenience for paving, or a requirement, and they should have gone back in … seemed like they were intent on doing," Helton told Spectrum News.

Helton and neighbors are concerned more crashes will happen without the speed humps, especially since scores of walkers, joggers, and bicyclists use the street for recreation daily.

"On one Sunday morning, I counted 59 pedestrians, 30 bikes, and 13 cars in a 30-minute period," he said. "It's a unique road."

This portion of roadway is in State Rep. Thad Altman's district. He is weighing in on the issue, by calling on county commissioners to reinstall the speed humps immediately.