Saratoga Springs lowers most city speed limits to 25 mph; council votes 5-0

Saratoga Springs City Council voted unanimously on Aug. 19 to lower most city streets’ speed limits to 25 miles per hour, approving three connected ordinance amendments after a public hearing and brief public comment.

The changes replace the city’s prior default maximums — 35 mph inside the tax district and 40 mph outside it — with a default of 25 mph, while keeping separate listed exceptions for state or jointly controlled roads, school zones and certain arterials.

Council members said the change is intended to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in the city’s compact areas. The public hearing drew several residents and local advocates who urged caution on implementation but expressed general support for reducing speeds.

“Reducing the speed limit in town to 25 miles an hour — I support it,” said Bill, who identified himself as a Saratogian. He urged the council to follow the change with additional pedestrian-safety measures such as signal timing that gives pedestrians a longer crossing interval: “Let’s look at pedestrian safety…give pedestrians a 20-second window to cross the street.”

Ken Gray, identified as chair of the Complete Streets Advisory Board and speaking as a resident, told the council the policy has been on the board’s agenda since 2019 and credited a recent Vision Zero engineering study for the timing of the proposal. “Safer Streets is a statement of what we value as a community,” Gray said, and noted the technical detail that “technically reducing the speeds from 30 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour, it’ll take 24 seconds out of each mile of the driver.”

Other public commenters urged the council to avoid abrupt transitions from higher-speed state roads to the new 25-mph zones, and asked for clear signage and public education. Resident Darlene McGraw said the city should avoid dropping speeds immediately from state limits to 25 mph on some roadways: “I also support making it so upon certain roads the city doesn't go directly from what some of the current state road speed limits are from a higher amount just automatically down to a 25 mile per hour,” she said, asking for a “mindful” rollout.

Deputy Mayor Kiernan, presenting the city’s capital program earlier in the meeting, told the council that if the ordinances are approved signage funding in the capital plan will be used to support the new limits. The capital committee’s package, presented for 2026–2031 planning, includes line items the city says can be used for related signage and implementation work.

Council action came in three separate votes that together revise the city code: (1) change the base statutory maximums cited in the code from 35/40 to 25 mph; (2) repeal and replace Schedule 225-68 (streets inside the tax district that have different speed limits) to list streets with speed limits other than 25 mph; and (3) repeal and replace Schedule 225-69 (streets outside the tax district with different speed limits) for the same purpose. Each ordinance passed on voice vote, 5-0.

The ordinances include stated exceptions for roads controlled in whole or part by the state or other jurisdictions; council members and commenters noted that actual speed limits on those roads remain subject to state review and approvals. Council members also discussed next steps beyond sign changes: education, enforcement and street-design measures that would accompany the speed reduction over time.

The council closed the public hearing on the 25-mph package at the meeting and completed all three ordinance votes that evening. The city will proceed with posting and implementation details and said it will coordinate with state agencies on any joint-jurisdiction corridors.

For residents: the council and city departments said they will publish implementation details and updated maps on the city website once the new signage plan is finalized.