Salt Lake City begins installing new 20 mph signs throughout the city
Jul 27, 2022, 4:26 PM | Updated: 4:27 pm
New 20 mph signs go up throughout Salt Lake City to help keep residents safer as traffic related deaths spike. (Martha Harris)
(Martha Harris)
SALT LAKE CITY — Today, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall installed one of the first new speed limit signs that are expected to be placed in all Salt Lake City neighborhoods soon.
Mendenhall said the new signs are in response to a growing number of traffic-related deaths that have happened in Salt Lake City this year.
“It might take you a few more seconds to get there but it’s going to save lives in Salt Lake City,” said Mayor Mendenhall
In May, the Salt Lake City Council voted to change the speed limit to 20 miles per hour on all of Salt Lake’s neighborhood streets. Previously, the speed limit in those areas was 25 miles per hour.
In May of 2021, an activist group also pushed for all of Salt Lake City’s residential streets to have default speed limits of 20 miles per hour.
A sign for drivers and residents
The city will install around 575 new 20-mile-per-hour signs. In other words, 70% of the city’s public streets will be impacted.
Furthermore, Mendenhall said the signs will signal to drivers in Salt Lake City that the safety of residents is at the forefront of their concerns.
That said, she said that keeping people truly safe will take a commitment from each driver to follow the new posted speed, stay alert, and never drive under the influence.
More on lowering the speed limit
The Salt Lake City Council adopted an ordinance for lowing local speed limits in June, according to a press release from the mayor’s office.
Mendenhall wants city officials to understand and recognize that this is only the first step in keeping our streets safer for everyone.
Other steps taken through this recently-adopted budget include bringing back a new and improved traffic calming program named Livable Streets, said Transportation Division Director Jon Larsen.
You’ll start seeing a lot more 20 mph speed limit signs around Salt Lake.
Today, @slcmayor and City Council Chair Dan Dugan took down a 25 mph sign and replaced it with a 20 mph sign. In the next few weeks, many more speed limit signs will be replaced. pic.twitter.com/Z5hWPlqwmX
— Martha Harris (@marthajharris) July 27, 2022
Martha Harris contributed to this story.
More:
- US traffic deaths up 7% last year, highest number since 2007
- Auto-related deaths spike nationally, Utah is no exception
