Title
Consider and take action on an Ordinance to set a 35 miles per hour (mph) speed limit along Mar Bella Parkway between State Highway 96 and Isla Vista Drive, a distance of approximately 0.38 miles (Executive Director of Development Services)
Staff requests approval on first and final reading.
Background:
Approval of this item will set a 35-mph speed limit along Mar Bella Pkwy between State Highway 96 (SH 96) and Isla Vista Dr. Exhibit A shows an aerial of the study corridor. Mar Bella Pkwy is classified as a "Collector" roadway and as per Section 110-166 of the City's Code of Ordinances, a 35 mph speed limit should be used unless Council action designates otherwise. The existing speed limit on Mar Bella Pkwy is 30 mph.
A speed zone study was performed to evaluate the existing speed limit on Mar Bella Pkwy between SH 96 and Isla Vista Dr. Data collection for the speed zone study included site investigation, traffic volume and spot speed data (provided in Exhibit B) and crash data (provided in Exhibit C).
The 11th edition of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Official’s (AASHTO) A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets guidelines recommend using the 85th percentile speed as a starting point for setting speed limits. The average 85th percentile speed on the study corridor was estimated to be 37 mph based on the spot speed data collected. Since the existing speed limit on Mar Bella Pkwy (30 mph) is lower than the 85th percentile speed (37 mph) and there are not other factors that should be considered to keep the speed limit at a lower rate (such as line of sight issues), it is recommended to increase the speed limit to 35 mph to reduce the dispersion of driver speeds along the study corridor.
City of League City Major Thoroughfare Plan (2018) designates Mar Bella Pkwy as a collector street. Revising the speed limit to 35 mph will make the speed limit consistent with the default speed assigned to a collector based on ...
Click here for full text