Placement: New Business
Action Requested: Motion / Vote
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Speed Limit Along Morningside Blvd.
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Submitted By: John A. Bolduc, Chief of Police
Strategic Plan Link: The City’s Mission to be responsive to our community.
Executive Summary (General Business): The Police Department is recommending the change of the speed limit along S.E. Morningside Boulevard to 30 mph, to ensure consistency throughout the length of the corridor.
Presentation Information: N/A
Staff Recommendation: Move that the Council approve the change of the speed limit along Morningside Boulevard to 30 mph.
Alternate Recommendations:
1. Move that the Council amend the recommendation and approve the speed limit to be changed to 30 mph along Morningside Boulevard.
2. Move that the Council not approve the recommendation of changing the speed limit along Morningside Boulevard to 30 mph and provide direction.
Background: Morningside Boulevard currently has three different speed limits along the length of the roadway. The roadway is similar in design and the land use categories along all three segments are the same. The residents have questioned as to how the speed limits on different segments could be different. A plain reading of F.S. 316.189 sets the maximum speed limit on all municipal roads to 30 miles per hour unless through investigation a different speed limit is determined to be reasonable. There is no evidence of any investigation which was conducted to support different speed limits for different sections. Therefore, the speed limit along the entire stretch of Morningside Boulevard should be adjusted to 30 mph.
Issues/Analysis: In January 2018, a detailed analysis of the speed limits on Morningside Boulevard was conducted and a recommendation based on a Traffic Engineering Investigation on the speed/volume data available was provided to the City Manager’s Office. At that time, it was my recommendation to reject the proposal to lower the speed limit, based on the Traffic Engineering Investigation which revealed 85th percentile speeds near 40 mph and 10 mph pace speeds of 31- 40 mph, and did not warrant lowering the speed limit below 35 mph. The different speed limits on Morningside Boulevard have been discussed for many years. During our research, we found City Council discussions going back to 1992 as to why the different segments have different speed limits(attached).
However, the Police Department nor the Traffic Engineering Department have been able to determine, how, when, or why the segments were given different speed limits.
Since the first initial conversation, I have a changed perspective and recommendation. I recently attended a two-day Florida Department of Transportation Planning Workshop. At the workshop there was a discussion of the very same issue surrounding the use of 85th Percentile Speeds and 10 mph Pace Speeds for setting speed limits. We are not the only community experiencing speeding issues where the Traffic Engineering Investigations result in a recommendation of increasing the speed limits when the general sentiment is the vehicles are already travelling too fast. Additionally, the discussion centered around how could anyone justify increased speed limits in residential areas. There were also discussions about how many municipalities are lowering their speed limits, despite the 85th percentile speeds, to 20 mph across the board for residential areas.
Florida State Statute 316.189 states: “The maximum speed within any municipality is 30 mile per hour”. The statute continues and permits municipalities to set different speeds provided a Traffic Engineering Investigation is conducted and the speed is warranted. These adjustments from the statutory maximum municipal speed limit of 30 mph are permissive, but not required. I believe the speed limits within the City have been altered in the past by arbitrary means in past years and this practice has placed us in the situations like Morningside Boulevard, where we now have conflicting speed limits for similar roadway types running through similar land use categories. These situations provide for an environment where the citizens can question the rationale and we are at a loss to explain the methodology.
Financial Information: Public Works will bear the cost of changing the signs along Morningside Boulevard through man power, equipment costs, as well as new signage.
Special Consideration: N/A
Location of Project: S.E. Morningside Boulevard
Attachments: 1. City Council Regular Meeting Minutes dated May 26, 1992
2. Memo dated January 25, 2005 from Donald Cooper regarding Change in Speed Limit Recommendations on Various Streets
3. City Council Regular Meeting Minutes dated February 14, 2005
4. Email dated August 4, 2017 regarding Morningside Speed Limit with a July 16, 1999 memo regarding Speed Limit on Morningside Boulevard
5. Council Agenda Memo dated January 22, 2018
NOTE: All of the listed items in the “Attachment” section above are in the custody of the City Clerk. Any item(s) not provided in City Council packets are available upon request from the City Clerk.
LEGAL SUFFICIENCY REVIEW:
N/A