ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — St. Pete residents say drivers are tearing through their small neighborhood at more than twice the speed limit. 

Joseph Benedict and his wife have seen it all from their home on the corner of 50th Street S and 2nd Avenue S. 

"They come down here at 50, 60, 70 miles an hour. Cars right there have been rear-ended. The fence over there has been mowed down. And then we had somebody come up through here and slid the corner and try to go up the alleyway and sheared the telephone pole off over there just because of the speeding," resident Joseph Benedict explained. 

So why are cars speeding down this residential street when 1st Avenue North, a main eastbound artery with a higher speed limit, is one block away?

Our Traffic Expert Chuck Henson said there is some additional traffic due to the construction of the Bus Rapid Transit lane on 1st Avenue, but the core issue is to simply slow down the residential streets nearby. 

The residents started a petition for speed bumps which was approved by a majority of the property owners, but as of last week, there's been no word from the city about the next steps. 

Chuck Henson checked in with the city and found out the street is on a city list for speed bumps to be installed but with the current red tide situation, there isn't a single public works employee available to install them. 

Mike Frederick with the city said he will reach out to the residents when a solid date can be set.