The people who host highway design review meetings sometimes make reassuring statements about speed limits. Speed limits aren't their job. The phases of planning, design, construction, and operations all belong to different groups. Public hearings are design. Speed limits are operations. The groups used to work on different floors and hardly talk to each other.
If anybody really cares I can get the Route 2 speed limit paperwork out of the DOT. I have no doubt that a speed limit of at least 55 is justified by engineering standards. The speed limit on that part of Route 2 was 55 until the powers that be ordered it reduced in the 1970s. Officially, there was no reason. But the traffic operations people knew they had better not undo the change. Apparently the new interchange and median barrier changed the political calculus. John Carr On Mon, Dec 9, 2024 at 5:28 PM scjc89 <scj...@comcast.net> wrote: > > On the topic of speed limits. Was there an approval process for route 2 > between Tracey's and Crosbys being increased to 55? > That was always stated it would not happen during the planning. > I emailed the state but no response > Thanks > Sharon > > > > Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S22 5G, an AT&T 5G smartphone > > > -------- Original message -------- > From: "John F. Carr" <voxsciuro...@gmail.com> > Date: 12/9/24 11:48 AM (GMT-05:00) > To: Mark Holzwarth <m...@ecacbed.com> > Cc: lincoln@lincolntalk.org > Subject: Re: [LincolnTalk] Who Changed the Speed Limit on RT 2A and Why? > > The 45 mph speed limit speed limit on part of Route 2A of Lincoln was > changed to 40 by MassHighway in 1998. This was a political favor. I > never bothered to ask for the engineering study and I don't know if > the department pretended to do one. I verified that the road did not > qualify for a 40 mph speed limit according to the official speed > zoning procedure. > > The speed limit change didn't affect traffic speed. I'm sure the > engineers who signed the paperwork knew it wouldn't. It is well known > that you can't control traffic speed by changing numbers on signs. > But orders are orders. > > John Carr > > On Sun, Dec 8, 2024 at 8:00 PM Mark Holzwarth <m...@ecacbed.com> wrote: > > > > Wondering who changed the speed limit on Route 2A from 45 mph to 40 mph? > > > > > > > > Town of Lincoln? > > > > Mass DOT? > > > > MMNP? > > > > > > > > Was there a traffic study? > > > > > > > > Mark Holzwarth > > > > Blackburnian Rd > > > > > > > > -- > > The LincolnTalk mailing list. > > To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. > > Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. > > Change your subscription settings at > > https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. > > > -- > The LincolnTalk mailing list. > To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. > Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. > Change your subscription settings at > https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. > -- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.
