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County staff warn Senate File 378 will raise default paved-road speed limit to 60 mph; board asks for temporary resolution
Summary
Secondary Roads Director Laura Severs briefed supervisors on Senate File 378, effective July 1, 2026, which raises the default speed limit on paved county roads to 60 mph; staff recommended a temporary resolution keeping existing 55-mph postings while roads are evaluated and signs/paint and entrance-permit criteria are updated.
Woodbury County’s Secondary Roads office told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that a state law change — Senate File 378, effective July 1, 2026 — will raise the default posted speed limit on paved county roads from 55 to 60 mph unless a county posts otherwise.
Laura Severs, speaking for Secondary Roads, said the change does not automatically mean every paved road will be set at 60 mph on July 1. Instead, the county and state will need to review individual road segments to confirm whether 60 mph is safe, and that process will require moving or replacing supplemental signs, re-evaluating no‑passing zones and repainting passing-zone lines. “It doesn’t mean that the speed limit is 60 miles an hour as of July 1,” Severs said. “It just means that … counties can start moving those 55 mph speed zones to 60 if it works for the traveling public to still drive that speed safely.”
Severs noted Woodbury County maintains roughly 344 paved road miles and described multiple operational and budgetary impacts: the county will need to reexamine sight-distance standards for new entrances (current permit policy does not reference 60 mph), relocate supplemental signs such as school bus warnings or stop-ahead signs, and pay for striping and sign replacement or temporary overlays. She estimated sign costs at about $80–$90 each and suggested $4 overlay stickers as a short-term, lower-cost option for many existing signs.
Supervisors asked whether the county’s contracted striping vendor could repaint lines this season; Severs said the vendor planned to paint the county’s north half in August and staff would try to evaluate no-passing zones to avoid double mobilizations. Several supervisors supported bringing a temporary resolution to the next meeting that would keep current 55-mph postings while staff completes a full review and prepares cost estimates.
The item was informational; the board did not adopt a county-wide policy in the meeting, but requested staff bring a temporary resolution for consideration.
