What Are Speed Tables? Specs, Uses & Cost (2026)

A speed table is a flat-topped raised pavement section, typically 22 feet long — 3-foot ramps at each end, 16-foot flat plateau in the middle — built to slow vehicles to 20 to 25 mph. Tables are gentler than humps, gentler than cushions, and let buses ride the flat at full service speed without rocking the cabin. They sit at the top of the calming hierarchy for routes that need calming AND need to preserve transit, freight, and emergency-vehicle ride quality. Below: the engineering, the use cases, and the design specs.

What is a speed table?

A raised section of pavement built as 3 feet of approach ramp, 16 feet of flat plateau, and 3 feet of departure ramp, with a total length of 22 feet and a height of 3 to 4 inches at the plateau. A passenger car climbs the ramp, rides the flat at the design speed (20 to 25 mph), and descends the departure ramp. The vertical pulse on the suspension is gentler than a hump because the climb and descent are gradual.

Why do speed tables exist?

Tables solve the bus-route calming problem. A bus traversing a speed hump rocks meaningfully and lifts standing passengers; a bus traversing a 22-foot speed table rides flat once it climbs the entry ramp and feels nearly nothing across the plateau. The Federal Highway Administration's Traffic Calming ePrimer treats tables as the primary calming device for bus-route corridors and any street where transit comfort matters.

How Are Speed Tables Different from Speed Humps?

Variable	Speed hump	Speed table
Length (travel direction)	12 to 14 ft	22 ft total (3 + 16 + 3)
Height at peak	3 to 4 in	3 to 4 in
Profile	Parabolic	Trapezoidal (ramp-flat-ramp)
Design speed	15 to 20 mph	20 to 25 mph
Bus impact	Moderate	Low
Material	Mostly asphalt	Asphalt, brick-inlay, or concrete
Cost per unit	$2,000 to $5,000+	$5,000 to $15,000+

The cost difference reflects the larger pavement footprint -- a table is 50 percent longer than a hump and uses proportionally more material and labor.

How Are Speed Tables Different from Speed Cushions?

Variable	Speed cushion	Speed table
Footprint	6 to 7 ft (split into segments)	22 ft (continuous)
Bus impact	Lower (most buses straddle)	Lowest (buses ride flat)
Fire-truck delay	1 to 3 sec/cushion	2 to 4 sec/table
Wheel-track gaps	Yes	No
Best for	Fire-access routes	Bus routes, mixed transit

Cushions and tables both have lower fire-truck delay than humps. Cushions are the device of choice for fire-access routes; tables are the device of choice for bus routes. The speed cushion vs speed table reference covers the full decision matrix.

Where Are Speed Tables Used?

Five primary use cases.

1. Bus routes

The original use case. TriMet, LTD, Lane Transit, and Cherriots routes can ride 22-foot tables at full service speed without lifting standing passengers or jolting seated riders. The Oregon DOT transit-friendly calming guidance treats tables as the default for bus corridors that need calming.

2. Mid-block residential corridors

Tables work well on long residential corridors with a mix of traffic. The 25-mph design speed matches most posted residential limits, the gentler ride generates fewer complaints than humps, and the wider footprint is harder for drivers to swerve around.

3. Architectural / aesthetic streets

Brick-inlay tables (asphalt body with decorative brick on the plateau face) are common in historic neighborhoods. Portland's downtown and some Old Town corridors use brick-inlay tables both as calming and as visual treatment.

4. Drive-thru and customer-pickup lanes

Wider tables (sometimes 30 ft or longer) work as combined slow-speed approach plus stopping platforms. A drive-thru window with a table approach holds customer-vehicle position more reliably than a flat-pavement approach.

5. Pedestrian-priority intersections

A table at an intersection turns the entire crossing into a raised pedestrian platform. The speed table vs raised crosswalk reference covers when to combine the two.

Speed Table Dimensions and Specifications

Variable	Recommended	Source
Total length (travel direction)	22 ft typical, 24 to 30 ft variants	ITE Traffic Calming Manual
Approach ramp length	3 to 6 ft (per design speed)	FHWA
Flat plateau length	14 to 22 ft	ITE
Height at plateau	3 to 4 in	FHWA
Profile	Trapezoidal (ramp-flat-ramp)	ITE
Material	Asphalt, brick-inlay, or concrete	Property choice
Marking	Yellow chevrons on ramp faces	MUTCD W17-1

The 22-foot design is the most-cited "standard" but variants exist for different design speeds. A 30-foot table with longer ramps is gentler at higher design speeds; a 16-foot table with shorter ramps is harsher at lower speeds.

Types of Speed Tables

Asphalt cast-in-place

The most common type. Crew mills the existing pavement, places hot-mix asphalt to the table profile, screeds the plateau flat, ramps the edges, and compacts to grade. Lifespan 7 to 10 years on parking lots, 5 to 7 years on residential streets.

Brick-inlay

Asphalt body with brick veneer on the plateau face. Common in historic neighborhoods and architectural-priority districts. Higher upfront cost (roughly 1.5 to 2x asphalt-only), but the visual is part of the streetscape investment.

Concrete cast-in-place

Niche use. 12 to 20-year lifespan but harder to modify. Common on hospital-campus drives and high-volume HOA entrance roads.

Modular rubber

Less common for tables than for cushions because the larger footprint makes modular hardware impractical. Some manufacturers offer 22-foot rubber tables for private-property installs where future removal matters.

Marking and Signage Requirements

Per MUTCD Part 2C:

• Yellow chevron pattern on each ramp face (6-inch stripes)
• W17-1 (HUMP) advance warning sign placed 100 to 200 feet ahead (some jurisdictions use a custom TABLE sign)
• W17-1P advisory speed plaque showing the design speed
• Reflective markers at the plateau edges and ramp transitions
• HUMP advance pavement marking 50 to 100 feet upstream

For raised-crosswalk variants, add the standard pedestrian crossing marking on the plateau.

How Effective Are Speed Tables?

Effectiveness data from the FHWA CMF Clearinghouse and the ITE Traffic Calming Manual:

• Passenger-car speed reduction -- 5 to 7 mph (about 70 percent of an equivalent hump)
• Bus delay -- 0 to 2 seconds per table
• Fire-truck delay -- 2 to 4 seconds per table
• Volume reduction -- 5 to 15 percent on the calmed segment
• Crash reduction -- 8 to 12 percent

Tables trade about 2 mph of passenger-car speed reduction for 5 to 8 seconds of bus-delay savings per device. On any bus-route corridor, the trade is worth it.

Cojo's Eugene Greenway Speed Table Install

In April 2026 Cojo installed a 22-foot asphalt speed table on a Eugene neighborhood greenway corridor that carries an LTD bus route. The corridor needed calming (city Vision Zero priority) but a hump or cushion would have produced unacceptable bus-rider impacts. Pre-install 85th-percentile speeds were 27 mph; 60-day post-install measured 21 mph. LTD bus drivers reported no service issues.

Get a Speed Table Quote

If you are a transit agency, traffic engineer, HOA board member, or property manager evaluating tables, Cojo can provide a free site review. See the speed cushions guide for the cushion comparison, speed cushion vs speed table for the cushion-table decision, speed table vs raised crosswalk for the crossing-combo decision, speed table installation in Portland for a local example, or asphalt maintenance services for the install scope.

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