Road's faster speed draws concern

KOOTENAI — The speed limit on a main road here will increase despite safety concerns and the continuation of truck traffic that prompted the council to adopt a slower speed limit two years ago.

Council members voted to raise the speed limit on North Main Street from 15 mph to 25 mph this week in spite of objections by one council member.

Eric Brubaker advised the council to adopt a 20 mph limit, but members chose the 25 mph limit because of a traffic survey recommendation for the north-to-south route that connects a gravel pit to Highway 200 via the city limits of Kootenai.

The new ordinance includes limitations for trucks hauling through town and busy neighborhoods along North Main Street. Trucks, and other vehicles, that haul sawdust, gravel, dirt or rock on North Main must be covered, according to the ordinance. In addition, trucks with a gross weight of 26,000 pounds or more are limited to hauling Monday through Friday between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. and are prohibited from traveling through city limits on weekends.

The speed limit in the rest of Kootenai will remain at 15 mph.

Brubaker argued that the traffic survey’s recommendation should not have a bearing on the council’s decision.

Instead, he said, council members should make the safety of residents their top priority, and consider what is best for their neighborhoods.

“I think it’s way too fast for our neighborhoods, when our streets are our sidewalks,” Brubaker said.

In the past, citations issued for the 15 mph limit were not prosecuted, according to the council. Also, a traffic survey was required to change speed limits, council members said. The city lowered its limit on North Main last year without first completing a survey.

Once the new speed limit signs are in place, mayor Maggie Mjelde said, the city will push for prosecution of anyone exceeding the limit.

She and other council members agreed that a slower limit was safer, but they did not want to buck the traffic study’s findings.

“Are we going to go through another traffic study and agree to disagree with our paid consultant?” council member David Sundquist asked.

The council moved to lower the limits two years ago after being confronted with a group of citizens who said trucks hauling from a gravel pit were putting pedestrians in danger.

Janene Grende circulated a petition among town residents two years ago for a lower limit.

“Roads here are so condensed with people and kids,” Grende said.

Group members counted an average of 475 trucks hauling through town in the peak summer months to a nearby construction project that has since been completed, she said.

She is not happy with the council’s decision to raise the speed limit, she said, but agrees with the limitations the new ordinance places on truck traffic.

The council unanimously accepted the new provision that calls for  misdemeanor penalties for violators.