40-mph Speed Limit OKd on Fitzgerald

The Simi Valley City Council has approved a 40-mph speed limit on Fitzgerald Road from 1st Street to Hudspeth Avenue and has authorized city staff to solicit bids for construction of a traffic signal at Royal Avenue and El Monte Drive.

The council was not entirely happy about the speed limit, set according to the California Vehicle Code.

City staff determined the speed limit by performing an engineering and traffic survey, as required by the code.

The code mandates that except in unusual conditions, a speed limit should be set according to the speed of drivers in the 85th percentile of the traffic survey, in this case, 41 mph.

The code was established to prevent cities from setting up speed traps, Councilwoman Sandi Webb said, adding that she gets more complaints about high speed limits than any other issue. By creating the law, she said, the state took away local control of the decision.

Construction of Fitzgerald Road was finished in September.

The cost for the Royal Avenue signal is estimated to be $101,000. It will be funded in the 1998-99 budget, which includes $192,000 for new signals.

The bid also will include work to modify a signal at Cochran Street and Erringer Road. After work is completed, the signal will have left-turn signals for all four directions.

City staff plans to award the bid in December and expects the work to be finished in March.