Orem Council votes tonight on raising some speed limits

OREM — Lynette Christiansen fears the day when cars will zip past her front yard at "roaring" speeds.

That day may soon come.

The City Council is expected to vote tonight on a proposed speed limit increase for five major Orem streets. The city plans to study the traffic flow impacts created by the new speeds for nine months and re-evaluate the plan.

"They are saying nobody is going to speed — that there is this magic number," said Christiansen, who has petitioned city officials to keep speeds at their current limits. "That is baloney."

That magic number Christiansen is referring to is the "85th percentile speed" — the speed at which city officials estimate

that 85 percent of the vehicles either travel at or below.

City Transportation Planner Chris Tschirki said people drive at a comfortable speed. If the weather turns nasty, drivers slow down no matter what the speed limit is.

"The theory behind it is that people will drive at a speed that is reasonable and safe and prudent," Tschirki said. "They (drivers) determine how fast to go depending on the street design and street conditions."

Orem resident Ralph Rhino agrees. He said, with the exception of Interstate 15, residents drive at comfortably safe speeds.

"People, by and large, are not idiots," said Rhino. "People instinctively drive what is the appropriate speed for a street."

The City Council was scheduled to approve the new speed limits at its June 24 meeting but delayed the decision to allow transportation planners to evaluate safety needs for elementary students at school crossings.

"The main concern of raising speed limits was the safety of the children," Tschirki said.

The city will install traffic calming devices — "chokers" — at each elementary school crosswalk on 800 East and 400 North. The chokers will make pedestrians more visible to motorists at crosswalks, and the crossing distance will be greatly reduced, Tschirki said.

Geneva Elementary School Principal Janette Strong said initially she was concerned about raising the speed limit.

"I was not happy when they told me they were going to increase the speed limit," Strong said. "But the way they have designed what they're doing is very helpful because it focuses the driver on exactly where the kids are, so I think it is going to be a good thing."

Although the chokers will slow traffic near elementary schools, residents living on the roads affected by the speed hike still worry about cars speeding in front of their homes.

"That's great — one little spot on the whole road gets slowed down," Christiansen said. "What about the rest of the street? I've just had it."

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E-MAIL: ldethman@desnews.com