PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Sometimes the seemingly simple things become much more complicated.

 

That was what Commissioner of Public Services and Utilities David Turocy told the Traffic Commission on Thursday night during a discussion about dropping the speed limits in "thickly settled" or business areas to 25 mph. 

 

The City Council has been looking to utilize the state's Modernization Act to lower speed limits across the city, and Councilor Nicholas Caccamo put forth an omnibus petition to change the speed limit in those areas across the entire city.

 

The act gives cities and towns the ability to lower the speed limit in those specific areas without having to do a speed study — whereas previously, a study had to be done for any change.

 

Turocy, however, said he dug into the weeds of the state language and found it isn't so simple. 

 

"Right now the City Council has approved seven streets for a 25 mph, six of them we can't legally do," Turocy said.

 

The definition of "thickly settled" calls for streets that are at least a quarter-mile long and have homes less than 200 feet from one another on average. Turocy said most of the petitions approved by the council are in areas that do not fit that criteria — only North Street as a business district did.

 

Further, if the street already has a posted speed limit, it is not eligible to be changed by the City Council without a traffic study.

 

"It is not as straightforward and frankly not as helpful as we thought it is going to be," Turocy said.

 

The commissioner then added that figuring out what streets would be covered by an omnibus change will take some work. He said he'll have to map out exactly which roads are "thickly settled." He said the city could place signs saying "thickly settled" areas are 25 mph, but knowing exactly where those street are can be difficult for drivers.

 

"That applies to a third of the city. How do you define what is thickly settled and what isn't? It will be confusing for drivers if you don't put signs up on every street," Turocy said.

 

Police Capt. John Mullin said a lack of signage makes the speed limits difficult to enforce.

 

Caccamo said the change would send a message. He recently worked with the Police Department to measure traffic counts and speeds on numerous roads in the city. He said on Dorchester Avenue, the average driver traveled 35 mph. That is a residential area Caccamo would like drivers to slow down when driving through.

 

"It sets the tone for the city," he said

 

Caccamo said that drivers can reasonably understand the difference between densely settled areas and others. He added that if residents do get a ticket, there is an appeals process in which they can make their case that a specific area did not meet the criteria.

 

"All of the emails I field about speeding are those straightaway streets, are those residential streets," Caccamo said.

 

Despite the commissioner's concern with figuring out and posting the lower speed limit, the Traffic Commission approved Caccamo's petition to lower the speed limits in those areas throughout the city. The City Council will now have to approve it for it to go into effect.

 

As an aside, five years earlier to the day iBerkshires published a report from a Traffic Commission discussion lowering speeding limits to 25. That included councilors suggesting a home rule petition asking to lower speed limits to 25.