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Commerce City council directs staff to study raising Highway 2 speed limit
Summary
After weeks of resident complaints about traffic flow and crashes, the council voted to direct the city manager and staff to analyze whether raising the posted limit on Highway 2 is warranted and consistent with safety and roadway design standards.
Commerce City council voted to direct the city manager and staff to review whether an increase in the posted speed limit on Highway 2 is warranted and consistent with public safety and roadway design standards.
Council member Bryson Ford made the motion, saying, “I move to increase the speed speed limit on Highway 2 to 55 miles an hour.” Council member Teeter seconded. The motion — to ask staff for a formal review and recommendation, not to change the posted limit immediately — passed by roll call 8-0 with one member excused.
City Manager Rogers urged a study-based approach during discussion. Asked whether the council was proposing an immediate legislative change, Rogers told council members that “the determination as to whether or not a speed limit change…should be supportable by a study,” and recommended staff analysis before any change.
City Attorney Zarzaki also advised caution, saying a change should be “supportable by a study” and that council’s direction should be to request that study rather than legislate a change without supporting data.
Council debate mixed calls for urgency and requests for data. Ford said the roadway was safer now than when it was two lanes and that “if we need to have an analysis, we need to have an analysis. But I still want to push the issue on getting the speed limit increased.” Mayor Pro Tem Tim Noble and other council members said they wanted the staff report and the city’s safety action plan available before any vote. Several council members suggested a staged approach — reviewing specific segments of Highway 2 (for example, from 80th Avenue to 104th Avenue) rather than a single blanket change for the whole corridor.
What happens next: staff will compile crash data, roadway design and operations information, and recommendations on consistency with national and state standards, then return to council with a formal recommendation. The motion recorded no immediate change to signs or enforcement.
Votes at a glance and other formal actions from the same meeting are listed in a separate summary article.
Ending: The council’s direction establishes a review process rather than an immediate speed increase; any change to posted limits will require staff recommendation and a separate council action.
