(Photo via Unsplash).
The Cortland Common Council at its meeting on Tuesday green lit a local law to lower the speed limit in two areas of the city.
The law was approved, 6-1. Councilperson Troy Beckwith (D-7th Ward) voted against the measure.
The city’s new law will reduce the speed limit from 30-to-25 miles per hour on Main Street between the Groton Avenue/Clinton Avenue and Port Watson Street/Tompkins Street intersections, and on Miller Street where it intersects with North Main Street and Morris Avenue.
The law includes Main Street due to the area currently under construction through Downtown Revitalization Initiative construction, and since the area will soon go from a one-way to two-way street.
Miller Street is included due to drivers using the street as a shortcut to avoid traffic lights on Homer Avenue. The new methadone clinic on Euclid Avenue also played a role in the decision.
City mayor Scott Steve said on Tuesday that a traffic study has to be conducted to “make sure there’s no reasonable impact” to Miller Street and Main Street.
“That process has to happen before (the 25-mph) signs go up,” Steve said.
Beckwith voted against the local law, with the belief that every street in the city should be 25-mph.
“Nothing against the residents on Miller Street…but I can’t support this,” Beckwith said. “I’ll support it if it’s across the board, but I think we’re going to open a can of worms with other streets in the city. People speed on every street.”
AJ Meldrim – the city’s corporation counsel – chimed in and said if officials looked into a city-wide legislation to reduce the speed limit on every street, the New York State Department of Transportation would have to get involved.
Steve mentioned in the past that since Main Street and Miller Street are city streets, Cortland officials do not have to submit a speed limit reduction request to the DOT.
Beckwith noted another concern with the speed-limit changes to specific streets may cause confusion when a police officer issues a speeding ticket to a driver.
Meldrim said that the speed-limit change on Miller Street and Main Street is a “good test.”
But, Beckwith said, “I don’t want to do a test. I want it changed across the board.”
Steve said if the city officials looked into a city-wide legislation for the overall speed limit, there should be piecemeal traffic studies. He called a study of the streets all at once would be considered “intensive.”
Based on cost, Steve said the city would consider traffic studies for other streets in the future.
“We should do some proactive policing first,” Steve said, noting an electronic speed monitoring system could be implemented as an “enforcement tool.”
“I feel like we can do additional enforcement with more traffic going into that area,” said councilperson Seth Thompson (D-5th Ward). “We can let people know that we’re going to dictate what the speed limit is and enforce the speed limit. If you abuse it, you’re going to reap the consequences.”
A breakdown of the city’s new local law can be found here.
