MANSFIELD — It’s going to be bumpy again on weekend nights along the Miracle Mile on Park Avenue West.
Mansfield Mayor Jodie Perry announced Tuesday during a City Council meeting the traffic control devices will return on Friday and Saturday nights, effective June 26.
Perry said the speed bumps would be placed by city crews on Friday afternoons, removed on Saturday mornings, returned for Saturday nights and again removed Sunday mornings.
The traffic control devices were used for the first time in 2024 between June 21 and Aug. 22, in conjunction with an “anti-cruising” law approved by City Council in 2024 that limits repeated trips up and down Park Avenue between Trimble and Home roads on weekend nights.
The city didn’t use the speed bumps in 2025 and Perry said the same problems returned to the section of Park Avenue West between Home Road and Trimble Avenue.
“If you remember last time around, we put them up Friday and left them up all weekend,” Perry said. “The majority of the feedback from residents that were upset was really for that Saturday time frame.
“(Residents) were trying to get to do their weekend errands, things like that and felt like that was difficult for them. We did hear from businesses that there was some small impact, undoubtedly,” the mayor said.
“As you’ll remember, it had a huge impact on curbing the racing and the gathering on Miracle Mile. With the weather turning good, we definitely are starting to see some of those challenges emerge again,” Perry said.
The mayor said she did a ride-along with police Chief Jason Bammann last Saturday night and “was able to see first-hand some of what’s happening out there.”
“Hopefully, that’ll curb issues. We definitely know there’s a lot of issues with speeding and want to remind people to be careful as you’re out driving in the city,” Perry said.
The speed bumps and an anti-cruising ordinance two years ago were part of an effort to reduce lawlessness on the Miracle Mile that law enforcement officials said had become a problem in terms of speeding motorcycles, drag racing and out-of-town visitors.
“In 2024, we had a lot of drag racing and high-speed driving with motorcycles. Putting up the speed bumps had an immediate impact,” Bammann said after the meeting.
“We chose to not put them up last year to see how the community reacted or if the problem stayed away. That did not occur,” the chief said.
“The problem came back and we’re back in the same boat that we were in 2024. That’s why we chose to put the speed bumps back up … to hopefully save a life.”
The chief said officials were not seeing issues with people violating the anti-cruising law designed to reduced traffic on the road.
“It’s the 100-mile-an-hour wheelies and that type of reckless driving, that concerns us,” Bammann said.
The chief said the MPD appreciated the city work crews willingness to place, remove, place and remove the bumps during a weekend.
“We really appreciate them helping us out with this because I know that taxes their manpower and kind of disrupts their weekend,” Bammann said.
Mansfield City Council on Tuesday also:
— approved spending up to $424,444.40 to buy five new new police vehicles.
Lawmakers approved a contract using state-contract pricing with Jim Shorkey Auto Group in Austintown, Ohio, to buy five police-equipped Dodge Durangos for the MPD.
Police Chief Jason Bammann said the dealership will have the vehicles in stock in the next few weeks. He said the purchase will put his department back on track with a fleet plan that looks to purchase three vehicles annually.
According to the legislation, half the money for the vehicles will come from the city’s portion of the OneOhio Opioid Fund. The other half will come from the safety services fund.
— voted to accept a $19,084 Project Safe Neighborhoods grant from the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services to be used to pay police overtime to “reduce violence throughout the city.”
— approved adoption of of the 2027 tax budget for the city of Mansfield and Mansfield Township, which must be filed with the Richland County Auditor’s Office.
— approved the rezoning of two parcels of land around Sites Road near Ohio 39 to B-2 general business from its current I-1 industrial district. The rezone was requested by the property owner. No members of the public attended a public hearing on the request prior to the beginning of council.
City Council is not scheduled to meet again until July 21.
