Speed limit lowered near several Modesto schools

Several schools in the Sylvan Union and Modesto City school districts will start the academic year this week with reduced speed limits on neighborhood streets.

The reduction to 15 mph from the typical 25 mph near schools “when children are present” resulted from an ordinance adopted Wednesday night by the Modesto City Council.

According to the city, the affected streets are:

▪ School Avenue, between Crows Landing Road and Bowie Avenue at Shackelford School

▪ Bowie Avenue, between School Avenue and El Paso Avenue at Shackelford

▪ Fine Avenue, between Lauding Way and Kodiak Drive at Mary Ann Sanders School

▪ Kodiak Drive, between Litt Road and Fine Avenue at Sanders

▪ Floyd Avenue, between Newport Drive and Vicki Drive at Somerset School

▪ Merle Avenue, between Wisdom Way and Walnut Tree Drive at Orchard School

▪ Poust Road, between Chapparal Place and Kidd Avenue at Martone School.

The cost for the speed reduction is around $2,400 per school site, city of Modesto spokeswoman Amy Vickery said in a news release. This includes a police speed survey and traffic engineering survey for each site, plus new school zone speed limit signage. These are “test locations” that will be evaluated again at the end of the upcoming school year.

Filming a school traffic safety message outside a school last week, police Chief Galen Carroll indicated the speed reduction was explored at the request of concerned families. The selected streets are ones where too many drivers have not been slowing down to the already posted speed limit. Traffic surveys indicated drivers were traveling 35 to 40 mph in these zones 85 percent of the time, Vickery said.

Early this year, Councilman Dave Lopez raised the issue, Vickery said. A staff report was provided to the Safety and Communities Committee at its March 9 meeting. After a first reading July 14, by the council meeting, it approved the ordinance last week.

This story was originally published August 7, 2015 at 2:10 PM with the headline "Speed limit lowered near several Modesto schools."