ST. LOUIS—Customers arriving to wait for the doors to open at Crown Candy Kitchen in Old North St. Louis Friday morning needed to go a little out of their way to find parking at the landmark restaurant.

Crews spent the morning installing speed humps in the area of St. Louis Ave. and 14th street.

It’s a small, welcome, and temporary hassle for owner Andy Karandzieff, who for years has fought what has felt like a losing battle against unsafe driving in the area. For roughly five years he’s been posting videos on social media to sound the alarm about drivers ignoring stop signs and the 25 MPH speed limit.

“I worry about my customers, I worry about my neighbors….we’ve been very fortunate that nobody’s been seriously hurt out there, one person has been struck but he was ok, thankfully.

On Friday he was happy to post videos of much different activity outside the restaurant, showing the work happening.

Karandzieff is hopeful people will be more mindful of their driving, but doesn’t see the speed humps as the be-all solution.

“It’s not going to solve the problem. But it’s going to maybe alleviate some of the craziness that happens in front of our store with cars blowing through stop signs and driving way too fast,” he said. “it means a lot that the city’s stepping up for us.”

“It's nice to see the physical infrastructure investment, like the installation of speed humps, start to align with the generations of personal investment made by members of the neighborhood. In other neighborhoods, infrastructure investment is generally a precursor to individual investment,” said Travis Sheridan, who has lived in the neighborhood for 11 years. “I am glad the speed humps are going in. People want to live, no, deserve to, live in safe neighborhoods, and pedestrian safety should be the easiest to ensure,” he said.

"I’m glad we officially got it done. This intersection has been dangerous, with people frequently running the stop sign. I’m excited that this speed hump will enhance safety in our community," said Alderman Rasheen Aldridge, who represents the area.

A city spokesperson confirmed that signs warning of the speed humps would go up in the area next week.