Some speed limits may fall to 25 miles per hour on Stillwater's city roads, especially downtown, after a study suggesting it would make the city safer.
The City Council heard the study details at a workshop session last week. Three years of citywide crash data ending in 2022 showed 252 crashes — half on city roads and half on county and state roads. None were fatal, according to the data.
Of the crashes on local city streets, about a quarter caused injuries. The other crashes caused only property damage. Two crashes involved pedestrians and two involved bicycles. Citywide, most crashes occur along Hwy. 36, Main Street and Owens Street N./Greeley Street S.
Some of the proposed changes include lowering speed limits to 25 miles per hour along Boutwell Road N./80th Street N.; on some downtown streets; and on Curve Crest Boulevard and the Hwy. 36 frontage road between Greeley Street S. and Stillwater Boulevard.
The city report included analysis from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the National Transportation Safety Board that said a pedestrian struck by a vehicle traveling 30 miles an hour is three times more likely to die than one struck by a vehicle traveling 20 miles an hour.
City Council Member Larry Odebrecht said he's a believer in lowering the speed limits, adding that he drove on White Pine Way in the Millbrook neighborhood recently when a child ran across the street in front of his car. He was traveling slower, but if he had been driving 30 miles an hour, he might have hit the child, he said.
Matt McKinney
Excelsior
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