CSAH 14 Speed Study Issue Deferred
Council also decided to defer action on the decision whether or not to request a speed study on CSAH 14 through town until next spring. A letter signed by five local businesses dated Sept. 23, 2009 requested that the speed study be conducted so as to reduce the speeds between Centerville Road and I-35E. The letter stated that the posted speed of 45 m.p.h. is unsafe due to proximity of homes and bus stops; it also stated that current speeds made crossing the roadway “difficult” and reduced the likelihood that drivers will patronize local businesses.
Link Full Article Here
How Does Mn/DOT Determine the Regulatory Speed Limit? Link Here
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12 comments:
Anyone with the tiniest bit of common sense would realize that having vehicles whipping as closely past residential property at 45 mph does pose a danger to life and property.
Of course, I've never heard one member of our current council be accused of having common sense. lol
Seriously though, it is ridiculous that the speed limit is 35 mph around the lakes (where the homes are farther back) and this council deferred even looking at the issue until spring.
This decision will hopefully aide in their demise come election time next Fall.
Yeah right, Mr City Administrator. You're crazy if you really believe MNDOT might raise the speed limit in front of those homes! This looks like an excuse to not do your job to protect the citizens and our local area businesses.
What is the real agenda here? Could it be that the City does not want to lose all that money it gets from speeding tickets issued around the lake because the speed limit could (and maybe should) be raised there? It appears that this is your concern.
Too bad we have the council falls all over you and can not make a decision independent of your opinion.
ANOTHER WASTE OF TAXPAYER MONEY HERE?
The Citizen article states,
"COUNCIL REQUESTED that a portable speed trailer be used to collect data. The trailer was in place two weeks ago; however, THE LACK OF A LONG ENOUGH CORD TO STRETCH ACROSS NEWLY WIDENED MAIN STREET WILL MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO GET ACCURATE INFORMATION FOR THE SPEED STUDY until spring, Council Member Ben Fehrenbacher told The Citizen."
So, the Council ordered a study to be conducted (at OUR EXPENSE?!) that was doomed to fail; unable to provide accurate results.
- WHY was this obviously not investigated beforehand?
- WHO 'dropped the ball'?
- HOW MUCH did this bogus 'study' cost the citizens?
Disgusting decision to defer the study. Wait until a child gets hit by a car on Main St. at 45 mph while the council is more concerned about parking on Mill Road!
Am fully aware the study will be deferred until spring, however, a useless study was initiated by Council and one wonders just how much this waste cost the taxpayers?!!
Point of Clarification... the reason why this was deferred is because these requests often end up raising the speed limit. CTY 14 is a new road that was built for higher speeds by the county (the County's goal is to move as many cars as fast as they can along this corridor). If a speed study ends with a higher average speed than posted, the county simply raises the speed limit. We want to defer so that we can enforce the current speed limit and hopefully get a lower speed then what is currently posted. I know...does not seem logical.... but these are the rules that are set by the county and state.
So, Ben you are saying they could possibly raise the speed limit to 45 mph all the way through town? I guess that's one way of looking at things, but isn't it true there's also a possibility of the speed limit being reduced through town up to Centerville Road and then increasing past Centerville Road and past Waterworks? So, what makes the City automatically think the speed limit will be increased?
COUNCIL MEMBER FEHRENBACHER:
This first 'study' (a trailer to log speeds for two weeks) was initiated by Council and then deemed a study that was "impossible to get accurate information" as you stated. Could you please answer;
How much did this initial "useless" study cost us? A sincere question, as many of the complaints I read on this site revolve around City spending.
Quite frankly, am seriously concerned myself to Council's wisdom in regards to spending. The city portion of our property taxes has been on an exponential incline the last 4 years (over 15% for 2010). This was not so since our move to Centerville 15 years ago.
it appears to me that citizens and local business may be barking up the wrong tree. The roads in question I believe are maintained by Anoka County. The City should have input, but it would be the County of Anoka that would have jurisdication over the speed limit.
Anonymous 11/25/09 11:55 am: The first study did not cost us anything, as the police department owns the speed trailer. The official study that MNDOT would perform is also provided at no cost to the city.
Anonymous 12/1/09 10:50 am: You are correct. We pass these requests onto the county and they simply pass it along to MNDOT...who then can either do the speed study or reject the request. However, we want to do some due diligence before we make this request as it is very possible that this action could actually raise the speed limit. Note the attached article titled "How Does MNDOT Determine the Regulatory Speed Limit" Specifically: "The most important part of the traffic investigation is the speed study. When choosing a speed, drivers take many roadway environment factors into consideration. Therefore, the speed that the majority of people consider prudent is an important value."
TRANSLATION - if everyone is speeding safely, MNDOT will raise the limit. Note... this does not take the local business opinions into account.
Personally, I think a 30 mph limit on residential streets is way too fast (should be 20 - 25 tops if you ask me). But, again, our hands are tied on this issue. The state sets this at 30 to ensue consistency across cities and prevents predatory speed traps
Anyone that thinks the speed limit should be 45 mph in front of the homes on main street is out of their mind!
This includes you, B. F. that thinks the residential speed limit should be 20-25 tops. HELLO?
(Talking of of both sides of your mouth has been given new meaning)
TRANSLATION -
Major disappointment that you were elected over Neale Rawlings...
BY 20 VOTES!!!
BLA, BLA, BLA!!!
Councilman Fahrenbacher,
Thank you for responding to my question in regards to cost of the first speed trailer. Glad to hear it didn't cost us taxpayers anything.
Also glad to see that you read this blog site - am sure the City's employees do as well, but I don't believe any other council members do, and that's a shame. I know MANY residents who are concerned & disgruntled on the turn this town has taken. And for that, it behooves the Council to pay attention to all resident feedback and not just the "yeah-sayers".
Thank You Councilman Fehrenbacher for responding.
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