The city of University Heights, known for its strict enforcement of its speed limits on Melrose Avenue leading to the University of Iowa, is installing speed cameras on that heavily traveled street and another east-west route.
The cameras would be placed in the 1200 block of Melrose Avenue, which has a 25 mph speed limit, and in the 100 block of Koser Avenue, which has a 20 mph limit.
Troy Kelsay, University Heights police chief (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
The cameras and accompanying signage are being installed, though University Heights Police Chief Troy Kelsay doesn’t yet know when the cameras will go live.
When the cameras start operating, he said, there will be a 30-day grace period during which speeding motorists will receive a warning in the mail rather than a citation and fine.
Fines will start at $105 for drivers going more than 11 mph over the speed limit and increase in 5 mph increments. The fine increases to $120, for example, for drivers going 16 mph over the limit, $140 at 21 mph over the limit and $165 at 26 mph over the limit.
Kelsay said that since he was hired as police chief five years ago, he has consistently heard complaints from residents about speeding in the community, specifically on Melrose and Koser.
Melrose is the most direct east-west street through the city, which is surrounded by Iowa City. Kelsay said that some drivers use Koser to get avoid the traffic on Melrose, and that speeding is common on both streets.
A Flourish map
Data gathered over a few days in April and May showed that about 15 percent of drivers on Koser and about 11 percent of the drivers on Melrose were driving more than 10 mph over the posted speed limits on those streets.
“I expect those numbers to drop as people start to get warning notices, and if we can get it to 99 percent compliance or more, that would be fantastic,” he said. “And by compliance, … I'm not talking about driving 26 in a 25. I'm just saying, don’t go 36. If we never issue a citation, that's a win. That means that we've slowed everybody.”
University Heights, population 1,200, has a reputation as a “speed trap,” with The Gazette reporting in 2016 that the city issued 907 speeding tickets in a year’s time, compared to 617 in Iowa City, population 75,000.
Kelsay said those numbers, however, were artificially inflated because the department regularly participated in a speed enforcement grant program through the Iowa Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau. In the program, the department could receive grant money by participating in speed enforcement projects outside of the city.
“You had tickets being written by the University Heights Police Department to people who didn't know where University Heights was. They weren't ever driving through University Heights. It was all on the up-and-up — the state was paying them to do it — but the optics of it were, frankly, poor, in my opinion,” said Kelsay, who wasn’t police chief at the time.
In 2023, the University Heights Police Department made 109 traffic stops, and traffic tickets were issued in 16 of those stops. One stop ended with an arrest, which also may have included a traffic ticket, Kelsay said.
Because of the city’s reputation as a speed trap, Kelsay said he was at first reluctant to consider automated traffic enforcement, or ATE. He talked with the city council about the speed cameras, and they decided to explore other options.
The city had worked with the Metropolitan Planning Organization of Johnson County on studies — in 2017, 2018 and 2022 — that explored the possibility of other traffic control techniques on Koser, where residents have been particularly vocal about speeding, according to Kelsay.
The planning organization looked at the possibility of adding speed humps to the road in 2017, but recommended against it, saying that the low speed limit would require the humps to be placed too close together.
In 2018 and 2022, the MPO examined placing an additional stop sign on Koser but determined its intersections weren’t busy enough to warrant another stop sign for traffic control, Kelsay said.
“As the city’s efforts to reduce speeds through more traditional methods were proving unfruitful, we started looking more and more into the traffic cameras, gathering more and more information,” Kelsay said.
The University Heights City Council on July 11, 2023, unanimously authorized the mayor to sign a contract with Traffipax, a Florida-based company, to install and maintain the cameras. There will be no upfront cost to the city for the cameras, but Traffipax will take 35 percent of paid citation fines.
On Sept. 12, 2023, the council unanimously changed the city code to allow for the use of traffic cameras.
Kelsay said he believes the cameras will be effective at reducing speeds in University Heights because both of the roads the cameras will be placed on only have one lane going each direction.
Even if the threat of a fine only slows down one driver on the road, all of the other cars behind that driver will be forced to slow down as well.
“If I could put billboards up, I would,” he said. “We’re adding signage. … We’re also going to add another radar feedback sign. I want people, the community wants people, to know that those traffic cameras are there. Our goal is to reduce speeds and make the road safer.”
University Heights will be the first city in Johnson County to install speed enforcement cameras. In Linn County, Cedar Rapids and Marion police make use of the speed and red-light cameras.
Installation of the speed cameras in University Heights comes as the Iowa Legislature is considering two bills to regulate — or ban — the cameras.
Senate File 489, supported by law enforcement, would require cities and counties to obtain state Department of Transportation approval to install the cameras, whose revenue often goes toward funding police departments.
Another bill, Senate Study Bill 3016, would ban the cameras and also enact stricter prohibitions on the use of cellphones while driving. Law enforcement and cities oppose the ban, though law enforcement has long sought the ban on cellphone use while driving.
www.thegazette.com
The cameras would be placed in the 1200 block of Melrose Avenue, which has a 25 mph speed limit, and in the 100 block of Koser Avenue, which has a 20 mph limit.
The cameras and accompanying signage are being installed, though University Heights Police Chief Troy Kelsay doesn’t yet know when the cameras will go live.
When the cameras start operating, he said, there will be a 30-day grace period during which speeding motorists will receive a warning in the mail rather than a citation and fine.
Fines will start at $105 for drivers going more than 11 mph over the speed limit and increase in 5 mph increments. The fine increases to $120, for example, for drivers going 16 mph over the limit, $140 at 21 mph over the limit and $165 at 26 mph over the limit.
Kelsay said that since he was hired as police chief five years ago, he has consistently heard complaints from residents about speeding in the community, specifically on Melrose and Koser.
Melrose is the most direct east-west street through the city, which is surrounded by Iowa City. Kelsay said that some drivers use Koser to get avoid the traffic on Melrose, and that speeding is common on both streets.
A Flourish mapSpeed data
Data gathered over a few days in April and May showed that about 15 percent of drivers on Koser and about 11 percent of the drivers on Melrose were driving more than 10 mph over the posted speed limits on those streets.
“I expect those numbers to drop as people start to get warning notices, and if we can get it to 99 percent compliance or more, that would be fantastic,” he said. “And by compliance, … I'm not talking about driving 26 in a 25. I'm just saying, don’t go 36. If we never issue a citation, that's a win. That means that we've slowed everybody.”
University Heights, population 1,200, has a reputation as a “speed trap,” with The Gazette reporting in 2016 that the city issued 907 speeding tickets in a year’s time, compared to 617 in Iowa City, population 75,000.
Kelsay said those numbers, however, were artificially inflated because the department regularly participated in a speed enforcement grant program through the Iowa Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau. In the program, the department could receive grant money by participating in speed enforcement projects outside of the city.
“You had tickets being written by the University Heights Police Department to people who didn't know where University Heights was. They weren't ever driving through University Heights. It was all on the up-and-up — the state was paying them to do it — but the optics of it were, frankly, poor, in my opinion,” said Kelsay, who wasn’t police chief at the time.
In 2023, the University Heights Police Department made 109 traffic stops, and traffic tickets were issued in 16 of those stops. One stop ended with an arrest, which also may have included a traffic ticket, Kelsay said.
Traffic cameras
Because of the city’s reputation as a speed trap, Kelsay said he was at first reluctant to consider automated traffic enforcement, or ATE. He talked with the city council about the speed cameras, and they decided to explore other options.
The city had worked with the Metropolitan Planning Organization of Johnson County on studies — in 2017, 2018 and 2022 — that explored the possibility of other traffic control techniques on Koser, where residents have been particularly vocal about speeding, according to Kelsay.
The planning organization looked at the possibility of adding speed humps to the road in 2017, but recommended against it, saying that the low speed limit would require the humps to be placed too close together.
In 2018 and 2022, the MPO examined placing an additional stop sign on Koser but determined its intersections weren’t busy enough to warrant another stop sign for traffic control, Kelsay said.
“As the city’s efforts to reduce speeds through more traditional methods were proving unfruitful, we started looking more and more into the traffic cameras, gathering more and more information,” Kelsay said.
The University Heights City Council on July 11, 2023, unanimously authorized the mayor to sign a contract with Traffipax, a Florida-based company, to install and maintain the cameras. There will be no upfront cost to the city for the cameras, but Traffipax will take 35 percent of paid citation fines.
On Sept. 12, 2023, the council unanimously changed the city code to allow for the use of traffic cameras.
Kelsay said he believes the cameras will be effective at reducing speeds in University Heights because both of the roads the cameras will be placed on only have one lane going each direction.
Even if the threat of a fine only slows down one driver on the road, all of the other cars behind that driver will be forced to slow down as well.
“If I could put billboards up, I would,” he said. “We’re adding signage. … We’re also going to add another radar feedback sign. I want people, the community wants people, to know that those traffic cameras are there. Our goal is to reduce speeds and make the road safer.”
University Heights will be the first city in Johnson County to install speed enforcement cameras. In Linn County, Cedar Rapids and Marion police make use of the speed and red-light cameras.
Iowa Legislature
Installation of the speed cameras in University Heights comes as the Iowa Legislature is considering two bills to regulate — or ban — the cameras.
Senate File 489, supported by law enforcement, would require cities and counties to obtain state Department of Transportation approval to install the cameras, whose revenue often goes toward funding police departments.
Another bill, Senate Study Bill 3016, would ban the cameras and also enact stricter prohibitions on the use of cellphones while driving. Law enforcement and cities oppose the ban, though law enforcement has long sought the ban on cellphone use while driving.
University Heights installs traffic cameras
The city of University Heights is working to install speed enforcement cameras on Melrose Avenue and Koser Avenue, the two main east/west thoroughfares through the city, which is surrounded by Iowa City.
www.thegazette.com
