​By Anne Aurand
 
Following community input and engineering analysis, speed limits will be lowered this month on the following road sections:
 

• Powers Road  between Parrell Road and Brookswood Boulevard – from 35 mph to 30 mph
• SE 15th Street from Lostine Circle to Ferguson Road – from 40 mph to 35 mph
• SE 15th from Ferguson Road to Knott Road – from 50 mph to 45 mph
• Country Club Drive between Knott Road and Murphy Road – from 40 mph to 35 mph

 
The new speed limit signs will have orange warning flags on top for a few weeks to call attention to the changes. 
 
These speed changes were initiated by a combination of citizen requests and City staff in response to changing traffic and development along these corridors.
 
In Oregon, speeds for roads within the City that are not highways or local residential streets – such as the aforementioned road sections — are set by the Department of Transportation. The new speed limits are established based on a traffic study that looks at existing driving speeds, road characteristics, adjacent land use, access locations and more. It can take up to a year to complete this speed study. Most of these requests were started this past summer.
 
The City asks drivers to pay attention to the new speed changes and be aware of conditions. Oregon’s basic rule speed law requires driving at the speed that is safe for conditions – this may be a speed slower than the posted speed. With winter here, it is especially important to pay attention to speed.
 
Drive safely!