Citywide speed limits set at 20 mph on local streets

As part of the Sarasota City Commission’s directive to develop a traffic calming plan, a speed study by the consultant tapped to spearhead the work has completed a speed study for all local, collector and arterial roadways throughout the city.

The idea was to identify average speeds on the various types of roadways and, following state statutes, set speed limits accordingly. Roadways where speeding is identified as a problem, then, will be subject to coming traffic calming measures resulting from the data.

The study’s recommendation is to reduce the speed limits to 20 miles per hour on local roads such as neighborhood streets, and to set maximum speed limits of 35 miles per hour on other roadways, excluding the interstate connectors and U.S. 301, from 17th Street north to the city limit.

Those recommendations were unanimously approved by the commission during its March 23 regular meeting.

“In order for us to reduce the speed limits, we must follow the Florida statute, which calls for also following the FDOT guidance on speed limiting,” Renato Coletti of Lakeland-based Rummel, Klepper & Kahl told commissioners. 

Statute requires determining the speed at or below which 85% of vehicles travel and compare that to the current speed limits. The differential between the two is where speed limits may be set.

“The major takeaway is that there is a good amount of local roadways in which vehicles the traveling at 85 percentile speed is below 20 miles per hour,” Coletti said. “Guidelines say that the speed limit posted needs to be within three miles of the 85th percentile speed.”

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The speed study covered varying time periods throughout the day for all of the year 2024 on Tuesdays through Thursdays and Saturdays and Sundays. The study was also divided between season and off-season to differentiate between heavier and lighter congestion times of year. 

What that means is, at least when it comes to neighborhood streets, little will change as 85% of traffic was already traveling at below 20 miles per hour. 

Implementation of the new speed limits will occur in one quadrant of the city at a time.

“That way, our staff can install the new signs, and then SPD can come in and enforce in that first quadrant,” said Alvimarie Corales, the city’s chief transportation planner. “And then once there's a certain time frame that passes by, we move on to another quadrant of the city.”

Photo by Andrew Warfield

Deputy City Manager Patrick Robinson told commissioners once signs are posted, a comprehensive education campaign will be executed by communications personnel with the city and the police department to inform drivers of the changes.

After one or two weeks for the signs to be noticed, enforcement would likely move into a period of warnings issued by patrol officers.

“Then actually issue uniform traffic citations on the back end of that for a specified period until they move into another area, just to make sure everybody has a decompression time period for the new change,” Robinson said.

Meanwhile, community meetings have been underway as staff introduced proposals for traffic calming plans throughout the city in areas where the new speed limits may prove to be less effective. Traffic calming measures include narrowing lanes and installing roundabouts, chicanes and speed tables, among others.

“We have proposed solutions on all of the corridors that exceed that 85th percentile,” said Senior Transportation Planner Corinne Arriaga. “The goal with the implementation of the traffic calming plan is to lower the speed limits as those traffic calming treatments get implemented, and think about doing that in batches because there's most likely going to be more than one project happening at a time.”

Residents may view proposed traffic calming projects and provide comments by visiting the web page at Sarasota.fl.gov. The public comment period ends April 17.