This article is presented as part of an ongoing discussion about the speed limit of Hwy 55 as it passes through Minneapolis. Responses are posted in Letters and Opinions.

See the related, but opposing view in A Letter to Mn/DOT in Issues.

(Don't) Give Us a Brake: Why can't we go 55?
Minnesota Monthly, October 2002
Reprinted with permission

FOR THE PAST FEW MONTHS, we've been hitting our brakes while driving through south Minneapolis on Hwy. 55 where, between 24th and 54th Streets, the speed limit suddenly drops to 35 miles an hour. Curious, we made a few calls and, instead of the logical explanation we expected, we found ourselves in the middle of a heated debate.

Melanie Brown

We started with the City of Minneapolis, who told us this was strictly a Minnesota Department of Transportation (MNDOT) issue. So we called MNDOT, and learned that's not really the case. "The signing issue has been controversial," says Dan Brannan, MNDOT's Traffic Safety Specialist. "We've been in a disagreement with the City of Minneapolis about it."

According to Brannan, the road was designed for cars to travel on at 45 to 50 miles per hour, but during road and LRT construction a temporary 35-mile per hour limit was put in place. After conducting traffic studies of the area, MNDOT is considering increasing the speed limit.

But the City of Minneapolis has thus far refused to remove the signs.

"We're hesitant about raising the speed limit, for safety purposes," says Greg Finstad, Minneapolis' director of transportation and parking services. Finstad explained that the ongoing construction causes a visibility problem for drivers.

Fair enough. But why would MNDOT, who advocates work zone safety in their "See Orange" public service campaign, want to raise the speed limit, making a construction zone less safe?

It's all a difference in perspective, says MNDOT. "We think it would be safer if the speed limit is raised," says Glen Carlson, MNDOT's traffic engineer who helped oversee studies of the road that show 85 percent of drivers on this particular part of Highway 55 are actually driving faster then 35 miles an hour, anyway. It's this sort of speed variation (groups of high speed and low speed drivers on the same road) that MNDOT tries to avoid when it sets speed limits.

Since neither agrees, both the speed limit and the polemic remain. But MNDOT and Minneapolis want to compromise, for the drivers' sake. "We hope to get this resolved in a few months," says Carlson.

Or not. Minneapolis is less optimistic. "We are encouraging MNDOT to wait until all the construction is complete before changing the signs," says Finstad.

--Jessica Flint

Top of page