Brookshire City Council approved the installation of two speed bumps on Bains Street during their March 22 meeting. Residents had complained to alderpersons that they had noticed an increase in speeding and showboat driving on the street which caused public safety concerns.

“We have just had a lot of issues with a lot of speeding that’s been going on,” said Brookshire resident Rachel Archer, who lives on Bains Street. “We’ve had drag racing up and down the street; we’ve had people … (when) we’re all outside just hanging out with our kids, they purposely speed up when they go by us, you know, trying to show off the fast cars and the fast trucks and their loud exhausts.”

Archer said she had spoken with Alderperson Kim Branch regarding the issue and the topic of speed bumps was then brought to council. Archer said she was concerned that drivers were going what she estimated to be between 50 and 60 miles per hour on the residential street, especially considering the growing number of children at the duplexes between South Street and the I-10 frontage road.

Council briefly discussed the types of speed bumps to be installed on the roadway before settling on an asphalt material. Alderperson Eric Green expressed concerns about the asphalt material leading to non-uniform results and other materials causing damage to the overall roadways, but deferred the overall debate and voted in favor of installing the bumps to ensure safety measures were quickly put in place.

Council also approved resolutions to hire engineering consultants at the recommendation of GrantWorks, the city’s Community Development Block Grant Program consultant. City Attorney Justin Pruitt said the appointment of those engineers would help the city in scoring as it competes for state dollars for improvements that could help improve parts of the city.

Brookshire’s alderpersons also:

• Approved a permit to move a wood-framed house to 4115 First Street.
• Approved a review of the city’s investment portfolio.
• Approved the city’s invoice payments and reports.
• Heard an update on the city’s COVID-19 situation from Police Chief Brandal Jackson. Jackson said the city had a total of 61 cases, no new fatalities to report and that he would post to the Brookshire PD Facebook page with updates regarding COVID-19 testing opportunities.