In response to concerns from the sheriff’s office, the fire marshall and concerned citizens, the Clark County council on Tuesday evening unanimously passed updates to speed limits and parking restrictions to county roads and streets.
Speaking at the council’s hearing, Matt Griswold, traffic engineering and operations section supervisor, told the council that as a result of new development some roads were seeing more fast-moving traffic. He said the Clark County Public Works Department conducted traffic studies to determine how fast motorists traveled on the roads. In some cases, he said the studies determined that speed limits need to be raised. In others, that meant the speed limit needs to be decreased to encourage drivers to slow down. On other more rural roads, the speed limit was scrapped in favor of the county’s basic speed rule, which basically means drivers shouldn’t drive faster than is reasonable.
Changes to parking restrictions were made so that buses or other large service vehicles could get through narrow streets. Other changes were made to increase visibility and safety or were made for housekeeping reasons.
Here are the changes.
Where: N.W. 21st Avenue between N.W. 94th Street and N.W. 99th Street.
The change: The speed limit was reduced from 35 mph to 30 mph because it’s near a school and is in a residential area.
Where: N.W. 21st Avenue and N.W. Fruit Valley Road between N.W. 94th Street and N.W. Lakeshore Avenue.
The change: The speed limit was reduced from 35 mph to 25 mph because it is near a school and a study recommended a new speed limit.
Where: Connected stretches of N.E. Corbin Road, N.E. 39th Avenue and N.E. 131st Street between N.E. Salmon Creek Avenue and N.E. 50th Avenue.
The change: The speed limit was reduced from 35 mph to 30 mph because segments of it are unimproved, narrow and have limited visibility. The area around it is also developing.
Where: N.E. 88th Street between N.E. Andresen Road and N.E. 94th Avenue.
The change: The speed limit was reduced from 40 mph to 35 mph because it is classified as a collector street, which commonly have lower speed limits.
Where: N.E. 162nd Avenue between N.E. Ward Road and N.E. 99th Street.
The change: The speed limit will be raised from 25 mph to 30 mph. The road carries about 3,000 vehicles each day and the county’s study found that most drivers violate the posted speed limit.
Where: N.E. 124th Avenue between N.E. 76th Street and Vancouver city limits.
The change: The speed limit will be reduced from 30 mph to 25 mph to make it consistent with other residential streets.
Where: N.E. 119th Street between N.E. 72nd Avenue and a half-mile west.
The change: The speed will be reduced from 40 mph to 35 mph after completion of a project to widen and improve the corridor in 2018.
Where: N.W. 21st Avenue south of N.W. 179th Street.
The change: Removes the 25 mph speed limit on the unimproved, rural dead-end street. County staff determined there is no engineering justification for a 25 mph speed limit and recommends the basic speed rule that’s used on other county roads.
Where: N.E. 45th Avenue north of N.E. 259th Street:
The change: County staff determined that there is no engineering justification for the 25 mph speed limit and it will also revert back to the basic speed rule.
Where: N.E. 212th Avenue between N.E. 83rd Street and N.E. 159th Street.
The change: The 50 mph speed limit on this rural road will revert back to the basic speed rule for other similar roads.
Where: N.W. Bolen Street west of Pacific Highway.
The change: Removes the 20 mph speed limit on the unimproved, rural dead-end street and reverts back to the basic speed rule.
Where: N.W. 31st Avenue south of N.W. 179th Street.
The change: Removes the 25 mph speed limit on the unimproved, rural dead-end street and reverts back to the basic speed rule.
Where: N.E. 15th Avenue between N.E. 88th Street and N.E. 94th Street.
The change: Removes a “No Parking” sign and opens up 65 parking spaces for residents in the high-density area.
Where: N.E. 94th Street between N.E. 15th Avenue and N.E. 20th Place.
The change: Will establish a “No Parking” zone on the north side of 94th Street in response to safety concerns.
Where: N.E. 17th Avenue between N.E. 63rd Street and N.E. 65th Street.
The change: Establishes a “No Parking” zone along the west side of N.E. 17th Avenue in response to concerns to improve pedestrian safety.
Where: N.E. 17th Avenue between N.E. 68th Street and N.E. 70th Street.
The change: Removes parking on some sides of the street to allow buses, fire trucks and other large service vehicles to get through.
Where: N.E. 68th Street east of St. John’s Road.
The change: The existing “No Parking” zone was never formalized.
Where: N.E. 47th Street between N.E. 56th Avenue and N.E. 60th Avenue.
The change: Establishes a “No Parking” zone to improve safety.
