Title
Amend City Code - Section 36-158, Schedule I, Local Speed Limits at 19 Locations (Ordinance G-6839)
Description
Request to amend Phoenix City Code, section 36-158, Schedule I, Local Speed Limits at 19 locations due to record keeping and local speed limit changes.
Report
Summary
Speed limits are established under Arizona Revised Statutes, section 28-703, which requires an "engineering study and traffic investigation." The Phoenix City Code and Charter require that all local speed limits on City streets be approved by City Council in the form of an amendment to Phoenix City Code (Attachment A).
The Street Transportation Department (Streets) is recommending record keeping and local speed limit changes at the 19 locations summarized in (Attachment B). Streets staff has conducted a comprehensive review of the speed limit ordinance and has noted locations where speed limits posted on City streets do not match the speed limits included in the current ordinance. In addition to these record keeping changes, there are streets or street segments that are being removed from the ordinance as they are either private or no longer part of the City's street network. Only one change is related to the construction of a street that warrants a speed limit change. As with all recommended speed limit changes, they are based on traffic investigations conducted with the engineering judgment of Streets staff.
Streets actively and regularly reviews posted speed limits and reconciles any discrepancies with the ordinance. Field reviews are typically conducted by the Streets Traffic Services Investigations team, but most recently this effort has been supported by the Universal Right-of-Way Inspections team. Field reviews over the last year have been completed for over 700 street segments. This update includes findings and corrections from approximately half of the reviews conducted, with the remainder anticipated for completion by October 2021.
Concurrence/Previous Council Action
The Transportation, Infrastructure and Innovation Subcommittee recommended approval of this item on April 7, 2021, by a vote of 4-0.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Mario Paniagua and the Street Transportation Department.