Speed sign greets traffic entering village

A speed sign facing north on Highway KW in the Village of Belgium was installed last week, completing nearly a year-long process of responding to residents’ fears over safety due to fast traffic.

The Belgium Village Board in May approved the purchase of the sign for nearly $5,000, which includes three brackets that allow it to be moved to different locations in the village. Village entrances on Highway D and the south village entrance on Highway KW are other possible spots.

The sign attaches to speed limit signs and displays passing motorists’ speeds. Red and blue lights flash when vehicles travel over the limit, and a flash simulates a photo being taken.

In addition, the sign tracks how many vehicles are speeding when they pass it.

Public Works Director Dan Birenbaum said the sign is the same one that the Fredonia Marshal’s Office and the Port Washington Police Department own.

The Public Safety Committee initially requested money for two signs.

“The prices came in a little higher than we expected. We’re going to start out with one,” Birenbaum said.

Purchasing a second sign may be considered next year, trustees said in May.

The sign is in response to village residents’ complaints last fall about speeding traffic coming into Belgium on highways KW and D.

Colleen Allen, who lives at 105 Rose Lane, on the corner of Rose and KW, said the speeding issue is nothing new.

“This discussion has been going on for years and years and years about the speeding on KW,” she told the Public Works Committee last September.

“I put up a big sign for two years, a yellow sign, (that says) ‘25 mph, slow down.’ It doesn’t make any difference.”

Trustee Don Gotcher said he understands the concerns. He lives in the Ardennes II subdivision near KW and D and sees danger with trucks speeding.

The Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office put a portable speed sign last September facing north on Highway KW.