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7. Speed Limits Update <br />Public Works Director Jesse Freihammer and Assistant Public Works Director/City <br />Engineer Jennifer Lowry provided a speed limit update to the Commission. <br />Chair Ficek thanked staff for the presentation. <br />Member Cicha indicated he would be curious to hear from police organizations <br />who have gone through this experience and have had speed limits change and if <br />their initial fears of their workload and resources have actually been impacted by <br />the change in the speed. What he has heard from the City's police force is that there <br />are not enough resources to try to follow up if the speed limits were to be lowered. <br />Ms. Lowry indicated she has been talking more with engineers than Police Chiefs <br />and those she has talked to either do not have a dedicated traffic enforcement group <br />or did not ramp up or have dedicated work. She thought it would be interesting to <br />hear from those entities as well as what complaints have come in from those folks <br />or other people. <br />Vice Chair Collins knew the Dale Street project is going to be coming up with new <br />markings and he wondered if the speed limit will be the same as what it was or will <br />there be any input as to possible changes. <br />Ms. Lowry explained county roads will remain the same even if the City were to <br />implement a change in speed in the city and typically a speed change would be <br />made after a road improvement, but a speed study would be done to determine what <br />the speed should be. With a speed study there is a possibility and risk that the speed <br />limit could be raised. <br />Member Mueller asked what a speed study entailed. <br />Mr. Freihammer reviewed how a speed study is conducted. <br />Chair Ficek asked if there is atimeline on the MnDOT study. <br />Ms. Lowry reviewed the timeline with the Commission but thought the process was <br />supposed to be within the year. It was started in 2019, so it was supposed to be done <br />already and she did not know if there was a set completion date. <br />Chair Ficek thought he saw something about Minneapolis and St. Paul follow up <br />studies and he wondered if those cities were moving forward to evaluate their <br />speeds now that those cities have changed the speeds and have a few years data. <br />Ms. Lowry indicated she would check. She talked to both cities but did not ask that <br />specifically. <br />Chair Ficek asked if dynamic signs are done by request. <br />Page 4 of 7 <br />