Orange agrees to speed study

Motorists heading south on Route 20 may do a double take as they hit the town line—speed limits have changed on Route 20 near Chatter Island, and more may soon follow.

The Orange Town Council agreed last week to pursue a speed study in an effort to change some of the speed limits entering and exiting town limits. As part of that discussion, the council unanimously voted to correct the minutes of a 2007 meeting, thus immediately changing the speed limits on Route 20.

“The drawing shows [the speed] limit was supposed to stay 45 until 0.29 miles from the town limits,” town manager Greg Woods said. “What was written [in the minutes] was .029 miles. We went back and looked at it and found the decimal got off, so the [council] changed the minutes to reflect that.”

The speed limits were corrected Wednesday morning, with the 45 miles per hour limit increased past Chatter Island until just before the Orange County Public School Bus Garage, where the 35 miles per hour limit begins. Previously, the 35 limit began just inside the town limits, or before Chatter Island—the difference between .029 and .29 miles.

And, council members hope a new speed study will support changing the speed limits on Route 15 South, toward Gordonsville.

“The speed limits into town are too slow,” council member Kent Higginbotham said. “I’ve gotten numerous complaints. We’re getting a bad rap.”

Council member Ryan Gibson said complaints with the speed limits into and out of town are valid. He said he’s heard people in Unionville say they can get to Culpeper faster and get what they need, rather than traveling into the Town of Orange.

Currently, turning onto 15S from Route 20 in front of the Prospect Heights road, the speed limit begins at 25 mph and gradually increases to 35 and 45. Once outside the town, the limit is 55 mph. The road itself also increases, eventually to a divided four-lane highway.

“Once it gets to the divided four-lane highway, we’d like it to be a little faster,” Woods said. “If the study supports it, we’d like to extend the 55 mph limit more towards town and increase the length of the 45 mph limit.”

“Where it’s a divided four-lane highway on Route 15, 35 mph just feels wrong,” town police chief Jim Fenwick added.

However, Woods said, it can’t be too fast too soon because lots of people stop in the 25 mph section to turn left across oncoming traffic onto Old Gordonsville Road.

“We wouldn’t want someone driving too fast through there with people stopped to [make that turn],” he said.

According to Fenwick, the speed limits on Route 15 haven’t always been the way they are currently. He said before, Marshall Auto was located in the curve on Route 15 and the business complained that their customers were having a hard time getting in and out of their location. Fenwick said that resulted in a change to the speed limits and the 25 mph was extended out to the four-lane area of Route 15.

A speed study was conducted at that time to support the change, as required by state law. However, it didn’t take into account things like accident data or studying an area over a 24-hour time period. Fenwick said a traffic engineer said the methodology of that study was done correctly, and the study itself was done correctly, but it wasn’t as good or as conclusive as it could have been. That engineer recommended that the town hire someone to conduct a new study. The study is expected to cost between $5,000 and $10,000.

In the meantime, drivers are already going fast in and through town. According to Fenwick, between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011, his office gave out 1,154 warnings and 962 speeding tickets to motorists in town. Of those tickets, the average speed that people were traveling was 20.5 mph over the actual speed limit.

“I think the speed limit signage is more than adequate,” he said. “If you’re running 60 in a 35, you’re still speeding if it’s 60 in a 45.”

He attributes the problem to the current times.

“I think a lot of it is today’s drivers,” he said. “There are lots of distractions and with newer cars, you can be running at 80 mph but it feels like 55 mph.”

Woods said his office is in the process of obtaining quotes from various companies to handle the new speed study, which will likely focus on Route 15 South.  He said with Route 20 North, changing the speed limit might not be worth it, particularly for certain times of the day where traffic is heavy and would impede any speed increases. In other areas of town, such as those that are residential, state law mandates the speed limits, which can’t be changed.