Drivers on a major road in the Eugene area may soon have to hit the brakes.
The Oregon Speed Zone Review Panel will meet Tuesday, Dec. 9 to discuss speed limit reductions for a stretch of River Road from Azalea Drive to Beacon Drive. The panel will also include a requested speed reduction on a section of U.S. 101 in Coos County.
“A decision should come promptly. If not that day, then within a couple of days,” said Don Hamilton, a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Transportation.
River Road could see its speed limit reduced to 35 mph. The current limit is either 40 mph or 45 mph, depending on the section
Marion Suitor Barnes, Public Affairs Manager for the City of Eugene Public Works, said the River Road review was co-requested by the City of Eugene and Lane County, partially in response to a fatal crash last December, where witnesses estimated a driver had been going 60 mph.
“It’s just the latest in a suite of changes and discussions we’ve had since that accident a year ago,” Barnes said. “The speed limit reduction request went to ODOT many months ago, and after ODOT did a traffic study, we heard in August that although some reduction was approved, it was not to the extent we’d requested.”
Hamilton said it’s common for ODOT to receive requests from members of the public. “If people get a lot of speeding past their homes or past their businesses, people want to see speed limits slow down,” he said. “There's a lot of concern also where there have been accidents, where there have been crashes, where there have been injuries.”
The panel will include testimony from the officials who requested the reviews and ODOT. It will also be open to the public for comment.
“The speed zone review panel is a real opportunity for the public to influence safety on the Oregon highways,” Hamilton said. “We really encourage the public to get involved in this.”
The panel will also consider a request to lower the speed limit on a section of U.S. Highway 101, known as the Oregon Coast Highway, in the cities of North Bend and Coos Bay.
The section between Stanton Avenue in North Bend and Hemlock Avenue in Coos Bay would have its limit lowered from 45 mph to 35 mph.
The review was requested by the cities of North Bend and Coos Bay.
