In a move aimed to enhance public safety, the Sacramento City Council has recently passed updates to speed limits, marking down speeds in several areas throughout the city. There will be a total of 14 speed limit reductions based on the latest rounds of evaluations. According to a post on the City of Sacramento, the changes are part of efforts to ensure areas with high pedestrian activity and proximity to sensitive locations, such as schools and parks, are safer for everyone.
Megan Carter, supervising engineer with the City’s Department of Public Works, has been quoted, stating, "When conducting these surveys our goal is to get the limits down as low as legally possible," as per the City of Sacramento. The staff has evaluated a total of 37 zones, looking beyond the 85th percentile speed to consider the context of each street. The City refreshes its Engineering and Traffic Surveys to avoid creating enforceable speed traps per California Vehicle Code standards, which have a shelf-life ranging between five and fourteen years.
The adjustments to speed limits are tightly regulated. California Vehicle Code 22358.6 mandates that speed limits be set at the 5 mph increment closest to the 85th percentile speed, except in cases where such an increase would round up the limit. Traffic staff can round down in these instances, focusing on school or park proximities and residential density to justify limit reductions. These changes come after the City established a 15-mph speed limit around 115 public, private, and charter schools in Sacramento's jurisdiction in 2019.
Specific streets are seeing the effects of these considerations. On Folsom Boulevard from Alhambra Boulevard to Elvas Avenue, for example, the staff has recommended a reduction from the posted 35 mph to 30 mph. Despite surveys showing a 35.9 mph 85th percentile speed, the additional pedestrian activity and the area's closeness to the Phoebe Hearst Elementary School and UC Davis Medical Clinic have been cited as reasons for reducing the speed limit. Other roads such as Freeport Boulevard, Fruitridge Road, and Greenhaven Drive, among others, are also set to experience lowered speed limits with justifications being provided by the City of Sacramento.
