Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Revisit the limits


I was disappointed to learn the Bellevue City Council is planning on changing the 25 miles-per-hour speed limit back to 35 mph at the city limits. Please re-think this.

I live in "northern" Bellevue in the Chanterelle subdivision. Our presence is not obvious to most commuters since our neighborhood sits at the bottom of Kirtley Road. If the subdivision were elevated to highway level, we would be directly on the highway starting at Kirtley Road (just north of the nursery).

I, like the majority of my neighbors, routinely use Kirtley Road to gain highway access, whether going north or south. When the speed limits were lowered, it gave us the added protection to more safely merge into Highway 75 traffic.

Traffic is always an issue, especially so during evening rush hour. Just before reaching Kirtley the highway splits into two southbound lanes and, without fail, someone will use one of the lanes as an "express" lane, racing through the "intersection" with Kirtley. Just yesterday I witnessed four cars speed through that intersection at 46, 36, 41 and another at 43 mph (the current limit is still 25 mph). Add the speed factor to the fact these cars are momentarily in "blind spots" when the road splits and you have created a potentially dangerous situation.

Lower, not higher, speed limits are what we need. Saving only a minimum of seconds, by traveling 35 instead of 25 for this extremely short distance, can hardly be worth it.

If you feel you must change the speed limit, please give serious consideration to a posting speed limit of 25 mph north of Kirtley Road, where the southbound highway splits into two lanes.

This can only result in safer travel for all.

Donna Serrano

Bellevue




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