The speed limit on a portion of N.C. 98 east of town will be lowered to 45 mph based on a recent study by the state Department of Transportation’s Division 5 traffic engineer, Al Grandy.
A Wake Forest area resident had requested a review of speeds on the N.C. 98 Bypass (Dr. Calvin Jones Highway) and eastward on N.C. 98 between the bypass and N.C. 96. In a recent letter, Grandy said, “We appreciate your concern for highway safety. Although we could not fully comply with your request, we hope you understand our reasons for the denial of a speed reduction on the N.C. 98 Bypass. However, we will be extending the existing 45 mph speed zone east of Jones Dairy Road.” The current 45 mph speed zone will be extended 1.29 miles to Austin View Boulevard because of the current speeds there and “the vertical alignment,” the hills. Currently the 45 mph zone ends at the entrance to Wellington mobile home park.
Grandy said his office set up three sampling stations on the bypass which operated for 48 hours, thereby capturing all peak traffic times. Those stations found most motorists, the 85th percentile, drove at 58.5, 50 and 62.9 mph, an average of 60.4 mph. The design speed for the bypass was 62 mph.
Based on the samples, Grandy said, “It is a common engineering practice to set speed limits within 5 mph of the 85th percentile. Based on this practice, a 55 mph speed limit on the N.C. 98 Bypass is acceptable.”
He also explained, “Several factors are considered before posting speed limits that are higher or lower than the statutory speed limit. One factor reviewed is the 85th percentile speed of prevailing traffic. The 85th percentile speed is the speed at or below which 85 percent of motorist are driving. Drivers within this group generally drive at a speed that is both safe and comfortable to them. The establishment of a speed zone less than the 85th percentile speed typically results in non-compliance of the posted speed by motorists and increase in crashes.”
3 Responses
If the speed limit was raised to 100 mph traffic would still be backed up the same distance. Maybe further because someone might actually try to go 100 and that would result in accidents: primary accident caused by the fast guy, multiple fender benders .Not to mention the rubber neckers!
What amazes me is that with school and rush congestion, the average speed during the 48 hr study came to 60 mph! Still 5mph over the posted speed. Wow! What was the speed during the non-rush hours? Where’s that algebra book?
In a few months multiple housing units and a grocery store are going to access 98. And every driver – car, service vehicle, delivery trucks – will all depend on U-turns in some part of their use of these projects.
The rest of the property on the 98″Bypass ain’t gonna be growing wildflowers for long. So the reduction in speed for this road may have been delayed , but soon you will be half way to Durham before you see double nickels!
The traffic at rush hour, from around 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm already gets backed up from Siena Drive to Jones Dairy Road. Lowering the speed limit between 1A and Jones Dairy Road would just cause traffic to back up even farther. I thought the purpose of a bypass was to keep traffic moving, not bottle it up. Pretty soon we’re going to need a second bypass to get around the traffic backup on the first bypass.
So because drivers routinely exceed the speed limit, it justifies setting the limit higher than safety dictates. Common sense indicates the speed limit should be 45, and lower approaching the major intersections at South Main and US 1.