Keeping the traffic close to 15 miles per hour in town

Neighborhoods could buy their own speed limit signs

A traffic study conducted in town last summer has shown that it is extremely rare for drivers to zip through Crested Butte neighborhoods at excessive rates of speed—even when flower boxes are not planted in the middle of the road. That’s not to say a lot of people don’t go faster than the standard 15 miles per hour. But, while the council heard myriad complaints last summer that some neighborhoods frequently had people driving 40 miles per hour through their streets, that extreme speeding simply didn’t happen very often, if at all.

Crested Butte marshals and the Public Works Department used a vehicle counter to measure numbers of vehicles and their speed in nine different residential blocks around Crested Butte. The traditional flower boxes used to “calm” traffic were not distributed this year. Instead, new signs stating the speed limit in town was 15 mph were placed in the street. According to chief marshal Tom Martin, when the signs were placed in the streets, people slowed down.
Public Works director Rodney Due said that when he started his job this summer, he received feedback that a lot of people didn’t like the flower boxes being used to slow traffic. “But we knew we needed to put something else out there if we took away the timber boxes,” he said. “So we tried the signs and they slowed down the people traveling at the highest speeds. It ended up with a good result, probably slowing down more than 10 percent of the drivers.”
Due said the signs cost $275 each and his department would put out as many of the signs as they could afford in the neighborhoods that showed the most need. “But if a particular neighborhood wanted to buy more signs, perhaps they could adopt a traffic sign,” he suggested. “The biggest problem is that there are no lights on the signs so they are hard to see at night, but it is better for a biker to run into one of these signs instead of one of the planter boxes.”
Councilperson Skip Berkshire wanted to know if the signs were really worth the investment. “Part of their effectiveness is that they are new,” he said. “I’m concerned that people will simply get used to them and we’ll lose the 10 percent improvement factor and the $275 sign. I’d like to see the science behind it. Are they effective in the long-term?”
Berkshire pointed out that the study also showed that in most neighborhoods, more than half the drivers were exceeding the speed limit.
“We have a unique speed limit at 15 miles per hour,” responded Martin. “For some places it should probably be 20 miles per hour in town. People generally drive in a safe and prudent manner, so going 16 or 18 or 20 miles per hour may technically exceed the speed limit but it is still safe and prudent and it isn’t driving 40 miles per hour like some people said last summer.”
Councilperson Dan Escalante said he was uncomfortable with private individuals or neighborhoods buying the speed limit signs. “That’s why we’re here,” he said.
“I think it gives an option to people,” retorted councilperson Leah Williams. “If the money is not in the budget, the money is not in the budget.”
Mayor Alan Bernholtz relished the discussion in general. “I love this town,” he said. “It’s nice to have a discussion about traffic calming where people are going 18 miles per hour. It’s a great town. I was here when the some citizens said they wanted to pay for these types of signs so if they want to adopt a sign, I think that’s great.”
The town will purchase more of the signs to distribute on the Crested Butte streets next year, but will also listen to requests from people in specific neighborhoods.