During the regular business meeting on February 11 the Simpsonville City Council voted to change the speed limit on South Main Street from 35 mph to 25 mph effective immediately. The original proposal on the agenda called for a 20 mile per hour speed limit. After much discussion the Council decided to accept the suggestion to go to 25 because several council members felt 20 miles-per-hour was entirely too slow and in fact hard to maintain that slow speed.
Mayor Shewmaker walked South Main and knocked on doors prior to the vote to get residents’ and businesses’ input about the change, saying, “I wanted to be sure we weren’t springing a surprise on folks and to be sure they really wanted a lower speed limit.”
The item came up for question because the road has been designated a link to a section of the Swamp Rabbit Trail. The road has been widened to incorporate the walking and bicycle trail, but it narrowed driving lanes for automobiles. The trail portion of the road now is marked with a white line and directional arrows and it runs adjacent to the northbound traffic.
A plan is in place to add armadillo bumps to the edge of the road that borders the trail. The city is currently waiting on funding from DOT to install those. Armadillos are simply a small mound of material that will separate the walking and bicycling trail from the road.
According to city administrator Dianna Gracely, the vote by Council was all the requirement necessary to put this change into effect.
Simpsonville police installed pneumatic speed counters two weeks ago to record traffic speeds from before and after the change. Digital speed display trailers will be installed in the near future to record and show motorists their speed count and make them aware of the lower speed limit.
Posted 25 mile-per-hour speed limit signs should be installed shortly.♥
