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Select Board approves seasonal pilot lowering Keywaden Road speed to 20 mph
Summary
After a public hearing and presentation of police radar data, the Wolfeboro Board of Selectmen voted to pilot a seasonal reduction to 20 mph on Keywaden Road for four months and to create a policy clarifying when police studies versus engineering studies are required.
The Wolfeboro Board of Selectmen voted May 20 to pilot a seasonal speed‑limit reduction on Keywaden Road, approving a four‑month trial that will post the road at 20 miles per hour during peak season.
Residents urged the board for action at a packed public hearing. "We really feel like in order to feel even slightly safer, we would like a 25 mile an hour," Jamie Biddom, a Keywaden Road resident, told the board, describing heavy summer traffic on a road that serves roughly 17 year‑round households and about 95 houses in the summer months.
Police presented a weeklong traffic investigation showing most recorded speeds between 19 and 25 mph and one outlier at 37 mph. "From that one week we had approximately 297 cars go by," Captain Mark Levy of the police department said, and recommended a seasonal pilot first, with additional summer monitoring if needed.
Board members debated whether the police investigation met the statutory requirement for a "study or engineering" evaluation under state law. The town attorney’s guidance was cited that outside an urban district the select board cannot reduce speed below 25 mph absent proper authority; board members nevertheless opted to pilot a seasonal 20‑mph reduction for June–September and asked staff to obtain a clear legal interpretation and to define a consistent policy for future requests.
The motion to implement the seasonal 20‑mph pilot and to develop a written procedure for assessing speed‑limit requests passed on a roll‑call vote with all board members present voting in favor. The pilot takes effect immediately for the four‑month period; after the trial the board will review any additional summer study and consider whether to make the change permanent or to commission a full engineering study.
The board also directed staff to develop a consistent process specifying when a police traffic investigation is sufficient and when a formal engineering study is required for speed‑limit changes so future requests are handled uniformly.
The select board’s decision followed the statutory process for local speed changes and will be revisited after the pilot and any supplementary summer data are analyzed.
