Marion council amends traffic advisory, orders ordinance to cut posted speed on Winslow Road to 30 mph

The Marion City Council on Sept. 18 voted to concur with a Traffic Advisory Committee report on petitions from Winslow-area residents — but amended the recommendation to reduce the posted speed to 30 miles per hour on Winslow Road from Tower Terrace Road to Burries Run Bridge.

Neighbors who organized petitions told the council the speed and roadway geometry create safety risks for children walking to school and for residents retrieving mail. “There are cars that exceed that speed consistently while there are bus stops, and there are children at play along those streets,” resident Joe Lewisohn told the council.

Staff traffic engineer Mike told the council the committee recommended against installing nonstandard “children at play” signs because those devices are not in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) and studies show they do not reliably change driver behavior. Mike said the TAC’s original recommendation was to keep the posted limit at 35 mph on the collector-class road, noting the 85th-percentile speeds and roadway classification drove that guidance. “Our recommendation is to leave it at 35 miles per hour,” Mike said, but he also described options including a targeted school-zone designation for a short segment, additional enforcement and speed-feedback trailers.

Residents challenged the study’s data collection points and context. Petition lead Levi Kirkpatrick said the traffic classifier was placed in a curve where traffic naturally slows, undercounting higher speeds on the straightaway where drivers accelerate. “That effectively becomes the drag strip for cars to race from one curve to the other,” he said.

After debate, councilmember Steve moved an amendment to the concurrence motion exempting the speed recommendation and instead directing staff to change the posted limit to 30 mph on Winslow Road from Tower Terrace to Burries Run Bridge. The council approved the amendment by voice vote. Mike said staff will prepare an ordinance spelling out the exact limits and bring it back for the next council meeting; by ordinance, a speed change requires three readings unless council votes to waive them.

The council did not adopt a children-at-play sign program; staff reiterated those signs are not MUTCD-compliant and can create a false sense of security, while recommending targeted enforcement and speed-feedback measures for the near term.

The ordinance to revise the posted speed will appear for council consideration at the next meeting and can be advanced faster if the council votes to waive additional readings.