City considers placing major thoroughfare on ‘road diet’
The Windsor Heights City Council met Monday to discuss a "road diet" plan that would eliminate two lanes from University Avenue.
University Avenue is the city's main thoroughfare and home to businesses including the Bake Shoppe.
While plenty of customers love the sweet treats, Bake Shoppe owner Valerie Laing said a lot of her customers don't love University Avenue's 25 mph speed limit and the city's speed cameras.
"It's a disincentive to people to come to the area," Laing said. "Twenty-five mph is, in our opinion, unrealistically and uncomfortably low."
"The street was designed for 40 to 45 mph," Windsor Heights City Councilman Michael Libbie said. "We have a 25-mph speed limit there. That's not right."
City officials said converting the four-lane road into a two-lane road will encourage people to drive slower and add room for pedestrians.
Councilman Joseph Jones said the road diet could also give a big boost to economic development.
"One of the things that people tell us about all the time, especially our businesses, is that the speed cameras are really a nuisance, and one of the things we want to do is to be able to raise that speed limit." Jones said. "So, we are going to do that as a part of that package plan."
The new speed limit would be 30 mph, and Libbie said it is about time.
"We believe that once we redesign University Avenue, no longer will it be necessary to have the speed cameras, which are a real negative public relations event and thing for our community," he said.
Jones said the road diet would cost about $5 million to $7 million. Additional details on the road diet can be found on the Windsor Heights website.
As for concerns about increased congestion on the slimmed-down road, according to the Federal Highway Administration, road diets typically don't lead to significantly longer travel times.