Curtis Bay North Gate Speed Bump Removal

Recently, the United States Coast Guard, located at Curtis Bay in Baltimore, Maryland installed a new anti-terrorist / traffic control measure on the north gate leaving the shipyard. The control device is a pair of speed bumps that have one way spring loaded spike strips installed on the top of the humps.

Initially, when the speed bumps were installed, the security office had a set of concrete jersey walls put into place that were running perpendicular to the bumps, and parrallel to the fence line on both sides of the road. This made the speed bumps negotiable, as people that own cars with a low ride height could drive by with one wheel on the bump, and one wheel off the bump. By doing this, you would be able to navigate the speed bumps without the spike strips dragging down the bottom of your undercarriage.

Many cars today have very important components mounted to the undercarriage which include such items as the fuel lines, brake lines, low hanging oil pans, and various suspension components. Just recently, the security office changed the jersey walls, so now they are in line with the speed bumps, and edge right up to the bumps themselves. This no longer allows employees to drive over the bumps with one wheel on, and one wheel off. As a result, there have been many instances where employees that own cars with a low ride height have heard the spike strips scraping down the undercarriage of their vehicles the whole length of the car.

It must be mentioned that there are employees that own vehicles with a low stock ride height. This is not a petition that only pertains to employees that own modified, and street legal vehicles.