Bill would let Montana counties set 25 mph speed limits in defined "urban districts"

Senator Will Street introduced Senate Bill 428 on behalf of the sponsor, saying the bill would allow county governments to lower speed limits to 25 miles per hour in defined "urban districts." He told the House Transportation Committee the change responds to constituent requests and that current law limits counties to 35 mph.

The bill defines an "urban district" for this purpose as an area where businesses or houses are situated at intervals of 100 feet or less for a distance of one quarter mile or more. “All I’m asking in this bill is you to push the bill forward to allow county governments to reduce the speed limit in urban districts to 25 miles an hour,” Senator Street said during opening remarks.

Why it matters: the change would expand local authority outside municipal boundaries. Proponents said communities off municipal rolls have repeatedly asked why counties cannot set lower limits. The sponsor emphasized the proposal is permissive — county commissioners would not be required to change existing limits and could act only if an area meets the statutory definition.

Engineering and enforcement context: Gabe Preebe, traffic and safety engineer with the Montana Department of Transportation, appeared as an informational witness and told the committee that statutory speed limits already specify a range of default speeds and that establishing special speed zones under Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) jurisdiction normally requires an engineering and traffic study presented to the Transportation Commission. Preebe said the bill applies to non‑MDT routes under county jurisdiction and that MDT would not be involved for those local routes. He also summarized crash‑survivability differences at various speeds and agreed to provide the committee the numerical survivability data he referenced.

Committee members pressed the sponsor and MDT staff on jurisdictional lines (for example, whether particular Frenchtown roads are county or state routes) and on the process for designating a segment as an urban district. Senator Street said a petition from local residents to the county commission and follow‑up measurements by the county surveyor or public works director would typically determine whether the statutory definition is met. Representative Cochran and others asked whether the bill would affect state highway miles; MDT staff said the bill would not apply to MDT routes.

No formal committee action or vote was recorded at the hearing; the sponsor closed by reiterating that the authority would be used at the county commissioners’ discretion and only where the statutory urban‑district definition is met.

The committee accepted no in‑person proponents or opponents at the hearing; MDT served as the informational witness and expressed no objections to the bill as written.