MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee’s Department of Public Works says it’s getting close to rolling out its plan to lower residential speed limits across the city. A nearly identical project is already being utilized in the state's second-largest city.
Milwaukee has already set aside more than a million dollars in federal Covid relief funds to cut speed limits on side streets from 25 to 20 miles per hour. While the funding is allocated, the Common Council would still need to offer final approval to lower the posted limits.
Milwaukee’s DPW is preparing to join a nationwide movement called “Twenty is Plenty” in the hopes it will get people to slow down in neighborhoods. But some aren’t convinced the effort would curb reckless driving.
“They’re going 60 miles per hour down this street,” Marc said. “Another five miles lower is not going to mean a bit of difference,” said Marc.
Marc thinks the proposal is a waste of time and money.
“The only thing it could do is they’d hit them with an extra 5 over the speed limit and increase the fine,” he said.
Bianca Shaw was struck by a reckless driver two years ago in a crash that resulted in two of her loved ones being sent to the hospital for injuries. While Shaw doesn’t think reckless drivers would adhere to lower speed limits, she believes it would be beneficial for those who do.
“I do think that it would have an impact for drivers that are paying attention and drivers that are cautious because we will then have some time to react if we see a car going through a red light or something like that,” she said.
DPW says it is in the process of negotiating a contract with a private consultant who would design and develop the signage replacement strategy on residential streets. Additionally, the consultant would partner with DPW to study which main corridors should be reduced by 5 miles per hour as well.
“We are doing this all across the city of Madison,” said Madison’s Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway.
Mayor Rhodes-Conway says the capital city already lowered speed limits to 20 miles per hour in two neighborhoods with plans to do the same on all side streets through a phased approach.
Madison has also knocked 5 miles per hour off the posted limits on several of its busiest streets downtown.
“We really started this work because we were seeing too many fatalities from traffic crashes and too many serious injuries and personally, my family has been impacted by traffic fatalities,” she said.
“Can you say reducing speeds has actually been effective in getting people to slow down?” TMJ4 asked. “Yes, absolutely, and I think there’s good evidence of that,” Mayor Rhodes-Conway replied.
Mayor Rhodes-Conway points to engineering studies that show average speeds on those streets have decreased, and more importantly, fatalities and serious injuries are down 29 percent since the change.
“I really commend Milwaukee for looking at speed and looking at speed limit reductions,” she said. “I think that’s an important step.”
“Is it a tool? Yes,” said Milwaukee Common Council President Jose Perez.
Perez says he’d like to see lower speed limits on residential streets, but he questions whether it’s worth a seven-figure price tag.
“Is it necessary to replace every sign?” said Perez. “We’re going to grill DPW in {the Public Works Committee} and figure out is this the best method for replacing the signs, best strategy and I’m confident in my colleagues that we’ll ask all the right questions and make all the right decisions in the end.”
If approved, DPW says it would launch a marketing campaign to make sure Milwaukee residents are aware of the reduced speed limits well before the new signs go up.
