William from Arvada writes, “What’s driving you crazy? Ralston Road in Arvada between the Wadsworth Bypass and Lamar Street. If you are going west, the speed limit is 40 mph. If you are going east the speed limit is 35 mph. I pointed this out to the city with no results. The curious part is that it doesn’t matter as the traffic on Ralston Road either direction is always doing at least 45 to 50.”
I think we should call this the curious case of the missing sign. Let me explain.
Municipalities have the option to determine what speed limit would be appropriate for any given roadway. Most rely on something called the 85th percentile speed. That is the speed at which most people are driving and that number changes over time based on many factors like population, land use and enforcement. The speed limits on this mile and a quarter long section of Ralston Road were set years ago based on those historical conditions. When I reached out to Arvada’s traffic team I was originally told that the current members couldn’t speak to the rationale for the split speed limits that are currently in place because they were not involved in the decision making process…