Who is my neighbor?

Star Tribune Mon, 14 Apr 2008 01:47:34 GMT
Message from the neighbors: Slow down on our street

A task force of traffic engineers is studying whether the state should lower its speed limits in some areas. ... MnDOT tends to look at speed limits from an engineering standpoint, considering road characteristics and technical analyses that measure how fast most people drive a stretch of road. But people who live on a road look at it from their front steps. They watch traffic whiz by. They know how easy or difficult it is to back out of their driveways. They worry about kids playing at the street edge or using a shoulder to walk to the school bus. Sometimes, St. Paul city engineer John Maczko said, people bemoan speeding on streets near their homes but do it themselves when they drive. "People act one way when they're standing on the sidewalk or sitting in their front lawn, and act 180 degrees opposite when they're behind the wheel," he said. Maczko, a member of the task force, is a firm believer in a 25 mph speed limit on urban roads. He thinks it's safer. St. Paul has long wanted that lower speed limit, he said. Minneapolis pushed for a similar change a few years ago. And in Edina, Public Works Director Wayne Houle said the city receives "a tremendous amount of complaints" about speeding on city streets. Last month, the Edina City Council passed a resolution supporting the state task force and an investigation into the feasibility of a 25 mph limit.

[[keywords: PublicSafety;Living;Metro;]]