HEALDSBURG, CA — The Healdsburg City Council voted 4–1 last week to raise the city’s speed limit to 100 mph, less than three months after finally installing the signs that lowered it to 20.
The goal, officials say, is still Vision Zero, the county’s plan to reduce traffic deaths to zero.
A staff report found that a driver obeying the 20 mph limit spends about a minute traveling through downtown Healdsburg Avenue — a full minute in which something could happen. At 100 mph, that drops to about 12 seconds.
“Vision Zero means zero,” one council member said. “You can’t hit anyone in Healdsburg if you’re no longer in Healdsburg.”
As with the last change, the new speed limit is already in effect, while the signs are expected to follow in about a year.
Until then, drivers passing a 20 mph sign are asked to add 80.
The bright red flags the city mounted on its 87 new signs this summer to get drivers’ attention will also be replaced with checkered flags.
The city is paying for the new flags out of the pothole budget, reasoning that at 100 mph, nobody will feel the potholes.
Faster Near Schools
The 37 school-zone signs the city ordered under the previous limit, which read 15 mph, finally arrived Tuesday.
Rather than waste them, Public Works plans to add a zero to each sign with a paint pen.
School zones will now be 150 mph when children are present, so drivers spend as little time near children as possible.
When no children are present, the speed limit drops back to 100, since there’s no hurry.
A council member said lives would be saved.
Trackside
With the new limits in place, city officials are now turning their attention to the infrastructure needed to make downtown suitable for high-speed travel.
The roundabout at the south end of downtown will be banked at 31 degrees, the same angle used at Daytona International Speedway.
Pedestrians who need to cross it are asked to wait for a caution flag.
The four streets surrounding the Plaza will become a one-way circuit, which visitors are already comparing to Monaco.
Hotels facing the course now charge an additional $400 per night for a “circuit view.”
Rooms facing away are marketed as “quiet.”
They also cost $400 more.
Asked why the new 100 mph signs will take another year to install, a city spokesman said a change this widespread takes time to implement carefully.
“There’s no rush,” he said.
