Fredonia Mayor Douglas Essek told the Board of Trustees Monday that a proposed cut in speed limits on Main Street can’t happen until the state Department of Transportation does a study.
Fredonia is putting off proposed speed limit cuts on Main Street because the state Department of Transportation wants to do a traffic study.
Mayor Douglas Essek opened what was supposed to be a Fredonia Board of Trustees public hearing on the proposal this week with a statement on why it should get adjourned.
“I had a conversation with the DOT and they have to run a traffic study, and it’s weather-permitting,” Essek said. “It might not happen within the 62 days (after the hearing) we have to hold a vote on it.”
He asked trustees to adjourn the hearing and they did so unanimously.
The proposal would lower the speed limit to 30 miles per hour, down from 40, between Clinton Avenue and the Fredonia Central Schools entrance. The limit for the school zone near that entrance would get reduced from 30 to 20 miles per hour.
Susan Parker, a Chautauqua County Legislator representing part of Fredonia, later spoke in favor of the speed limit cuts.
“What we know already is that the speed limit in the school safety zone can be reduced to 15 miles per hour. In a village, local speed limits can be reduced to 25 miles per an hour … and also DOT needs to do a study to consider the speed reduction,” she said.
“Lower speed limits reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries,” Parker added, citing statistics that showed lower chances of injury or death to pedestrians and cyclists as speed limits went down. “At the lower speeds, drivers have a wider field of vision and will notice other road users.”