Maine Local Roads Center
October 19, 2001
New Law on Speed Limits
Dear Municipal Official:
As you may be aware, recent changes in legislation which affect
who sets certain speed limits for Maine’s public roads became
law on September 21. The purpose of this letter is to outline
the law and provide you with the information which you will need
to determine whether your municipality wants to “get into
the business” of setting speed limits on local roads. We
are also sending you a list of those roads in your municipality
which you do NOT have the authority to set speed limits on, since
it is a shorter list than the one with roads that you may set speed
limits on.
Because your town has a 2000 US Census population over 2500, your
town has the option of choosing to control local speed limits. If
your town decides that the MDOT should remain in control of these
speed limits because it has the expertise, equipment, and experience
in this area, nothing changes for your town. Any speed limit
changes on any state or local road would still be done by the MDOT
after a written request from the municipality.
If your town decides to “opt in”, then you must refer
to the enclosed materials and provide written documentation to the
MDOT on the enclosed form letter. Please read the material
beforehand because “speed zoning” can be difficult,
time-consuming, and create many local headaches if not done correctly. For
example, lowering speed limits to “get people to slow down”
is a major misconception and should NOT be done. It is important
to remember that once your town decides to take on this responsibility,
you are now responsible for all speed limits on all local roads
in the future. Speed limits must be set properly using the
proper traffic engineering standards and the law is very specific
about the process and the standards.
If your municipality has a 2000 census population over 5000, the
Department may require you to provide the Department with technical
data when requesting a speed zone review. Technical data could
include a radar speed study, the length of section being reviewed,
the total number of access points along the section of roadway,
the total number of businesses and the number of roadway intersections. This
requirement is completely independent of whether or not your town
wants to “opt in” to setting speed limits. This
requirement is based totally on population.
Feel free to call Peter Coughlan in the Community Services Division
at 624-3270 if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Bruce Ibarguen
MDOT Traffic Engineer
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