Dennis Sumner (right) and Dan Hill of Burlington's Department of Public Works Traffic Division install a sign alerting motorists that the speed limit thoughout the city is 25 m.p.h. on Tuesday, November 29, 2011. The new speed limit goes into effect at midnight Tuesday. / GLENN RUSSELL, Free Press
Consider the new law as a motorist’s license to loaf: Burlington’s citywide speed limit falls from 30 mph to 25 mph, beginning this morning.
Burlington police will continue at present levels of enforcement, using the lower speed limit, Police Chief Michael Schirling said.
The change — which retains some lower and higher speed limits in certain sections of the city — is expected to enhance the safety of motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians, as well as reduce air pollution, said Nicole Losche, a transportation and environmental planner at the Department of Public Works.
City resident Phil Hammerslough, an avid walker and biker, termed the slowdown as “a huge improvement,” worthy of celebration.
“I’ve been hit a couple of times by cars,” he said. “They took place at low enough speeds that I survived.”
Hammerslough, who lobbied for lower road speeds as a Burlington Walk-Bike Council steering committee member, said pedestrians — if they take the time to listen — will hear a significant drop in traffic noise when the law takes effect.
The new law, approved Oct. 19 by the Public Works Commission, states that a 30 mph speed limit will remain in force on Plattsburg Avenue, on North Avenue between the Vermont 127 entrance/exit ramps and Plattsburg Avenue; and on Shelburne Street between the intersection of Locust and Ledge streets and the South Burlington city line.
Other roads will remain posted as exceptions to the 25 mph limit:
• 5 mph: Church Street between Main Street and Pearl Street.
• 20 mph: Lake and Church streets between Main and King streets.
• 35 mph: On the Northern Connector, beginning 500 feet south of Plattsburg Avenue, north to the Colchester town line.
• 50 mph: On Vermont 127 (also known as the Beltline).
Downtown “slower streets” — as well as the heavily trafficked corridors on North and Plattsburg avenues and Battery and Shelburne streets — will continue to be evaluated for safety and speed, Losche said.
During public hearings for the proposed speed limit changes, Hammerslough was among those who argued, unsuccessfully, for a 20-mph cap in the city’s downtown core — a limit that was a part of the department of public works’ original recommendation, and based on the 2011 Transportation Plan.
Until more dramatic changes are made, “car-centric” policies in Burlington will continue adding to the city’s congestion and pollution, Hammerslough said Tuesday.
“Can they really find a parking spot any faster if they’re driving at 25 miles per hour than they can at 20?” he asked.
Kelly Devine, executive director of the Burlington Business Association, supported the drop from 30 mph to 25 mph, but argued against the additional 5 mph reduction for streets in the heart of downtown.
“We were concerned that the lack of consistency in speed limits downtown might actually prove confusing, and less safe, for out-of-town visitors,” she said.
In the absence of data that showed that a slightly higher speed actually caused more accidents in Burlington, Devine said she favored stronger efforts to promote safer passage by bicyclists, skateboarders, pedestrians — as well as motor vehicles — through the city.
And if a collision occurs?
Statistics support slower speeds, wrote Department of Public Works Director Steve Goodkind in a recent announcement. The U.S. Department of Transportation has found that injuries inflicted by cars on pedestrians at 25 mph are typically half as severe as those at 30 mph, he wrote.
Contact Joel Banner Baird at 660-1843 orjoelbaird@burlingtonfreepress.com. Read his blog athttp://bit.ly/BairdsEye and follow him on Twitter atwww.twitter.com/vtgoingup.
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