The speed limit on one of Casper's most-driven streets will change next week, and a resident who lives near it wondered why.

Henry Cundy said he's been driving on East Second Street for 57 years during the public comment session of Casper City Council at its regular meeting Tuesday.

Cundy asked if the change was a result of a high number of accidents, because he has not noticed a high number accidents between South McKinley to Park streets compared with other areas of the city. If there were a lot of accidents the city should let the public know, he said.

Mike Huber responded the council recently changed the speed limit on East Second Street after the Wyoming Medical Center asked to lower the speed limit to 20 mph from 30 mph on East Second Street because of a high number of accidents.

However, that presented a problem, Huber said.

The varying speed limits would cause a "yo-yo effect" in traffic flow, he said.

Driving west on Second Street would be in a 30 mph zone before the 20 mph zone the couple of blocks by the hospital, Huber said.

The speed limit would increase to 30 mph at South McKinley Street for several blocks before dropping to 20 mph before entering the downtown area, he said.

But that could have been confusing for drivers who might not be sure where the speed limits change and get a lot of tickets for traffic violations, Huber said. "To me, frankly, that was setting up a speed trap cash register," he said.

So the council decided to make the intermediate 30 mph zone a 20 mph zone for consistency.

Cundy responded that he understood the "yo-yo effect."

However, that may cause problems because driving into downtown means driving downhill, which also means a lot of braking, he said.

After the public comment session, Cundy said he didn't mind if council was doing this for the right reasons, but should look at other areas in the city with a high number of accidents and consider lowering speed limits there, too.

Huber and Mayor Charlie Powell said they appreciated Cundy's remarks, adding they will monitor the new speed limit and revisit the changes.

 



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