A speeding issue in an area of one La Crosse neighborhood had the Board of Public Works discussing adding temporary speed bumps.
The idea was to put those up on 8th-through-10th streets in the 200 block of King to Cass streets.
La Crosse Fire Chief Ken Gilliam said the city needs to look at the impact of such traffic-slowing measures, because it’s a nuisance for fire trucks.
“Four minutes of no oxygen, you’re looking at brain damage,” Gilliam said Thursday on La Crosse Talk PM. “We’re in a business where seconds count. Well, a 10-second or 20-second slowdown to deal with a speed bump, you don’t think that it’s a big deal, but statistically, it makes a fire engine go 10 seconds slower. “When there’s two or three of them in a row, and now there’s a 30-second delay. When you’re choking on something and you can’t breathe, it’s a matter of perspective of how quickly you want to get that fire engine there.”