Speed Limit Increases in Dublin

Drivers will soon notice changes on four Dublin roadways. The Dublin City Council voted Tuesday to raise the speed limits on four of the streets in town.

1. Schaefer Ranch Road between Dublin Boulevard and the city limit will be raised to 35 miles per hour.
2. Fallon Road between Signal Hill Drive and Tassjara Road will be raised to 40 miles per hour.
3. Dublin Boulevard between Schafer Ranch Road and Inspiration Drive will be increased to 40 miles per hour.
4. Positano Parkway between Fallon Road and La Strada Drive raised to 35 miles per hour.

Why the speed limit increase now?

According to the City of Dublin Public Information Officer Linda Smith, the city is required to conduct speed surveys of all roadways periodically in order to keep the speed limits enforceable for the police.

“The recent study came back saying that a few of the city streets needed to be adjusted base on the traffic survey conducted,” she said. “If we do not make the adjustments, the police cannot enforce the speed limit [on those streets].”

According to the city staff report, the procedures for determining speed limits are as follows:

The operative criterion determined by an ETS is the 85th percentile or critical speed. This figure is based on the belief that most drivers will drive at a speed that is safe and reasonable for conditions. In a sampling of speeds that are taken by radar, 85 percent of drivers are traveling at the 85th percentile speed or lower.

Speed limits are to be set at the nearest 5 mph increment to the critical speed.
These part of the TES includes an analysis of the roadway to determine whether there are any offsetting factors such as residential density, pedestrian and bicycle features intersecting driveways accident history schools and so forth which would cause the recommended speed limit to be reduced by 5 mph.

Alternatively, as of January 1 2012, the speed limit may be set by rounding the 85th percentile speed down when it would otherwise have been rounded up to the nearest 5 mph increment. However, under this circumstance the additional 5 mph reduction cannot be applied.
           
Engineering surveys are typically performed during non-commute hours and are not performed where roadways are still under construction or where there are temporary conditions such as a lane closure or inclement weather that would affect a driver’s speed.
       
The cost for upgrading the speed limits signs will be about $2,200.

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