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INTRODUCTION <br />This report analyzes local safety, engineering and traffic conditions and national best practices <br />that inform the determination of appropriate speed limits in Falcon Heights. The findings of this <br />report will be used to determine speed limit changes on City streets that align with City policies <br />and new legislative authority. <br />Legislative Authority for Setting Speed Limits <br />In 2019, the governor signed into law a bill passed by the Minnesota State Legislature granting <br />cities the authority to set speed limits on streets they control. This went into effect August 1, <br />2019. Below is the statute; <br />Minnesota Statutes, Section 169.14, Subd. 5h. Speed limits on city streets. A city may <br />establish speed limits for city streets under the city's jurisdiction other than the limits <br />provided in subdivision 2 without conducting an engineering and traffic investigation. This <br />subdivision does not apply to town roads, county highways, or trunk highways in the city. <br />A city that establishes speed limits pursuant to this section must implement speed limit <br />changes in a consistent and understandable manner. The city must erect appropriate signs <br />to display the speed limit. A city that uses the authority under this subdivision must <br />develop procedures to set speed limits based on the city's safety, engineering, and traffic <br />analysis. At a minimum, the safety, engineering, and traffic analysis must consider <br />national urban speed limit guidance and studies, local traffic crashes, and methods to <br />effectively communicate the change to the public. <br />The current speed limits on all Falcon Heights jurisdiction streets is currently 30 miles per hour <br />which is the statutory urban speed limit set by Minnesota stature prior the new legislation <br />going into effect on August 1, 2019. <br />Falcon Heights Sneed Limits Goals <br />The City intends to create safe streets for all roadway users including, walkers, bikers, transit <br />users and drivers. The City intends to duplicate efforts done by the City of St Paul to reduce <br />speed limits on local streets to 20 mph. Since numerous local streets are shared by the two <br />cities and some neighborhoods (University Grove, Northome) are directly connected, it makes <br />sense to have similar speed limit criteria for consistency within the area. <br />Falcon Heights Speed Limit Evaluation <br />3 <br />