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<br />C:\Users\michele.lindau\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Outlook\PD3H9O9W\LTR - Reduce Speed Limit.docx 178 E 9TH STREET | SUITE 200 | SAINT PAUL, MN | 55101 | 651.286.8450 | WSBENG.COM September 30, 2020 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Honorable Mayor and City Council <br />City of Hugo <br />14669 Fitzgerald Avenue North <br />Hugo MN, 55038 <br /> <br /> <br />Re: 2020 Goodview Avenue Improvements Project <br /> Speed Limit Reduction – Goodview Avenue <br />WSB Project No. 014873-000 <br /> <br />Dear Mayor and Council: <br /> <br />In May 2019, Minnesota State Legislature passed a bill granting cities the authority to set speed <br />limits under their jurisdiction. This statute went into effect August 1, 2019. The purpose of this <br />memo is to provide the City Council with background information on the speed limit rules and to <br />provide information on what next steps they would need to follow to implement new speed limits <br />on local streets in the City of Hugo. <br /> <br />Following the 2019 legislation change a local road authority may reduce the speed <br />limit on streets under their jurisdiction with an engineering investigation for the following <br />conditions (County and state roads are not included in this authority): <br /> <br /> To 25 mph. on a “residential roadway”, which is a street that has a total length of up to a <br />half-mile and is not a collector or arterial road in an area zoned exclusively for housing. <br /> To 35 mph. in a “rural residential district,” which is a street segment with residential <br />houses spaced less than 300 feet apart for at least a quarter mile. <br /> <br />The current City of Hugo policy addressing speed limit related concerns is based upon <br />guidelines from Minnesota Statutes, Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) policies, <br />Minnesota Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MnMUTCD), and engineering judgement. <br /> <br />Goodview Avenue (south of County Road 8) is currently posted as a 50 MPH roadway. <br />Improvements completed along the roadway with the 2020 Goodview Avenue Street <br />Improvement project included widening the road from a 24-foot width to a 26-foot width. To <br />accommodate MnDOT’s policy for a state aid roadway with a design speed of 50 MPH or higher, <br />the wider roadway allows for two 11-foot driving lanes and two 2-foot paved shoulders. Should <br />the City Council determine that they would be in favor of reducing speed limit on Goodview <br />Avenue to 40 MPH (consistent with Goodview Avenue north of County Road 8), the driving lane <br />could be reduced to 10 feet, allowing an additional foot of paved shoulder on both sides of the <br />roadway. The wider shoulder would provide a safer route for pedestrians and bicyclists, which <br />was a large concern for residents participating in the public hearings for this project. <br /> <br />A speed limit adopted as 40 MPH in a rural residential district is not effective unless the road <br />authority has erected signs designating the speed limit and indicating the beginning and end of <br />the rural residential district for the roadway on which the speed limit applies. The action <br />necessary to lower the speed limit would be to adopt the attached resolution lowering the speed <br />limit along Goodview Avenue from approximately ¼ of a mile south of 125th Street to Egg Lake <br />Road / 137th Street/County Road 8 and install new speed limit signage.