If you frequent M.L. King Boulevard or Davidson Road, you may be able to drive a little faster in the coming weeks. That’s if the Chattanooga City Council votes to increase the speed limit on portions of those roads at Tuesday’s meeting.
Here’s what the council will vote on:
* Increasing the speed from 25 mph to 30 mph on Davidson Road between Charlotte Avenue and Gunbarrel Road.
* Increasing the speed from 25 mph to 30 mph on M.L. King Boulevard between Georgia Avenue and the Norfolk Southern railroad underpass.
n Increasing the speed from 25 to 35 mph on M.L. King Boulevard from the underpass to Central Avenue.
John VanWinkle, the city’s traffic engineer, said the move is meant to make the roads safer.
“We propose raising the speeds to keep up with the prevailing speeds on these roads,” Mr. VanWinkle said. “We recommend that speeds reflect what people are traveling to reduce the friction in the traffic stream. If more people are going closer to the same speed you have less friction, less passing, less avoiding slower drivers.”
M.L. King was converted from a one-way street to two-way travel in 2003, Mr. VanWinkle said. That’s when the speed was lowered throughout the entire thoroughfare.
Davidson Avenue, near the Council Fire development, is a cut-through for Georgia residents traveling to Hamilton Place and is a route for residents of several developments on the road.
“We looked at it and the speeds were much higher than posted speed,” Mr. VanWinkle said. “But it’s very substandard in sections, very narrow. We looked at it and agreed to increase it. It’s dangerous if we allowed people to go any faster than that because it’s so narrow.”
Residents say most who travel Davidson Road ignore the speed limit.
“Davidson has become a lot busier; there’s a lot more traffic on it. If you stick a police officer out there, they will slow down for a few days, but most people go back to going 45, 50, 55 miles per hour,” said Lynda Brown, who has lived on Davidson Avenue for 32 years.
She said she has lost six mailboxes in recent years and hopes the council will soon look at widening and improving drainage on the road.
That’s something the city is looking into, Mr. VanWinkle said.
“There is limited funding and plenty of projects,” Mr. VanWinkle said. “We’re aware it’s a project that needs to be done. It’s not on this upcoming capital budget, but hopefully we can find funds for it next time.”
IF YOU GO
The Chattanooga City Council will cast a second vote on two proposed speed limit increases. The meeting is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 1000 Lindsay St.
Adam Crisp covers education issues for the Times Free Press. He joined the paper's staff in 2007 and initially covered crime, public safety, courts and general assignment topics. Prior to Chattanooga, Crisp was a crime reporter at the Savannah Morning News and has been a reporter and editor at community newspapers in southeast Georgia. In college, he led his student paper to a first-place general excellence award from the Georgia College Press Association. He earned ...
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