Speaking up about speed

In Columbia, subdivisions and shopping centers seem to spring up overnight, bringing more cars and more traffic.

But speed limits generally remain unchanged.

That’s not because drivers on Columbia’s streets never exceed the legal limit; it’s because most people don’t know it’s mainly the public’s responsibility to ask the Missouri Department of Transportation or the city of Columbia to slow things down.

That’s how speed limits were changed in the past two years on three heavily traveled Columbia roadways: Route K, Route WW east of Columbia and Scott Boulevard. In each case, traffic engineers from the Missouri Department of Transportation received phone calls and letters from the public complaining about the posted speed limit.

“It really only takes one person to request a change in order for us to consider changing the speed limit,” said Trent Brooks, the traffic operations engineer of the Central District for the Missouri Department of Transportation.

Brooks said that some people who lived in new subdivisions along all three roads thought the posted speed limit was too high for a residential area.

Because of the public’s efforts, the three roads were identified as needing improvement, and the standard speed limit of 55 mph was changed to 50 mph and 45 mph along some sections of Route WW; 40 mph and 45 mph along sections of Scott Boulevard; and 50 mph and 45 mph along Route K.

But such citizen-initiated changes are relatively rare.

“We don’t get huge amounts of requests for speed limit changes,” said Roger Schwartz, the district engineer for the Missouri Department of Transportation, estimating that the department gets one or two a month.

Schwartz said the number of requests is small because public awareness of hot to get limits changed is low.

“I had absolutely no idea that we (the public) had any influence on changing speed limits,” said Moniqua Richo, who lives on Belleview Drive, a road off Scott Boulevard. “But it makes sense because we are

the ones who have to drive these roads every day and should have a say in road conditions that affect our safety.”

The public can request a speed limit or posted sign change on state roads and highways in two ways: by writing a letter to Schwartz or calling the Transportation Department’s customer service line and asking traffic engineers to evaluate a stretch of road.

For city streets, the public can make requests through the City Council directly or through Columbia’s traffic engineers.

Richard Stone, Columbia’s traffic engineer said the council uses arbitrary methods or recommendations to set speed limits

By “arbitrary methods,” Stone said he meant that the City Council has the power to set speed limits however and wherever they want for whatever reason. However, Stone said the council listens to the recommendations of traffic engineers who set speeds based on scientific and human facts.

“We look at and study data across the country and observe drivers to make sure that a roadway is safe,” Stone said.

Once a request is submitted, state or city traffic engineers will conduct a speed study — not necessarily a speedy study — to determine if a change is necessary.

During a study, engineers determine whether the current speed limit is being followed by at least 85 percent of drivers, the target when determining a speed limit. Schwartz said this is done by engineers test driving the road and setting up radar detectors along it.

Access to the road, accident history and design of the road are also evaluated.

But sometimes public complaints aren’t enough.

Traffic engineers from both departments say when speed limit changes are denied, it’s most often because the speed limit requested is not safe for the road.

“The focus is to reduce collisions and increase safety,” Brooks said.

Schwartz said that the safest condition possible on a roadway is if the speed limit is consistent along the entire road.

“Various speed limits on one roadway that cause speed-up-then-slow-down traffic cause collisions,” Schwartz said.

Sgt. Tim Moriarity, traffic supervisor for the Columbia Police Department, said his division works closely with traffic engineers from the state and the city to improve road conditions. He agrees that changing a speed limit is not always the best option for increasing safety on roadways.

“A speed limit is only as good as the people who are driving the cars,” Moriarity said. “Usually the public will complain about the speed limits because they realize there have been a lot of crashes along the roadway, but that is usually due to driving error and not because anything is wrong with the posted speed limit.”

The biggest challenge traffic engineers face is Columbia’s growth.

“The speed limits aren’t the problem, though; the problem is our roads need to be widened or extended, or we need more access to main roadways such as Forum Boulevard,” Moriarity said.

Though not every request for a change can be granted, Brooks said traffic engineers will always at least look into a citizen complaint.

“The public does need to know that, yes, they have some power in the influence of a speed limit change,” Brooks said, “But it is our responsibility as traffic engineers to make sure that the conditions on our roads are safe, and that is what we do.”