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DOT speed study finds enforcement, not posted speed, is the issue on Broad Street
Summary
A speed study for Highway 66/Broad Street showed average speeds above posted limits and 85th-percentile speeds in the low- to mid-50s; DOT concluded the data did not support lowering the posted speed and recommended enforcement and engineering measures, not a sign change.
Town Manager Homer Dearman summarized the April 7, 2026 speed and crash study performed by the NCDOT division traffic engineer. The results show average speeds above posted limits and a high share of drivers exceeding the posted speed.
"For the northbound direction, the average speed recorded was 47 miles per hour with 63.6% of vehicles exceeding this posted speed limit of 45 milesPH," Dearman said, citing the DOT report and five years of crash data. The 85th-percentile speeds reported were 54.24 mph northbound and 51.57 mph southbound on the 45-mph segment. In comparison, segments posted at 35 mph showed 85th-percentile speeds in the mid-to-upper 40s.
Based on that data, DOT concluded the characteristics of the roadway are not influencing drivers to slow and that simply changing the posted limit to 35 mph "is not having any effect on driver behavior." Staff told the council that the study points to an enforcement and roadway-characteristics solution rather than a change in the posted speed limit.
