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Students question speed limit on Pierce Road
October 29, 2007 —
No one likes to see red and blue lights flashing behind their car when driving.
But with an unposted speed limit on Pierce Road, students are asking, "How fast is too fast?"
"Pierce is a county road, so the speed limit is 55 miles per hour," said Chief of University Police Ron Trepkowski. "However, people usually drive to the conditions of the road and their surroundings so they tend to go about 45-50 miles per hour."
According to Trepkowski, about 90 percent of drivers only go as fast as the road conditions allow. With that, the 55 mph speed limit has not been a major issue for the portion of Pierce Road that runs alongside campus.
With the amount of people turning in and out of driveways to the village and with pedestrians crossing over from the Campus Village Townhomes, they tend to naturally slow down through the area.
But once west of Bay Road, drivers tend to speed up as the road allows.
"West of Bay Road there are fewer houses and businesses," Trepkowski said. "That is where people will drive 55."
A Facebook group called "Pierce Road the new autobahn?" suggests that students are concerned about the unmarked speed limit. Some students are confused when police officers approach their cars with speeding tickets. Junior James Dreher, creator of the group, said that his friend visiting from Wayne State University was pulled over for speeding.
"That was kind of the reason I started the group," he said. "I started it just to be funny but it's true at the same time. I was with my buddy when he got pulled over and we were more like taken aback by it because there really is no sign. We just laughed it off."
Many drivers wonder why the 55 mph speed limit isn't just posted on the road. The reason for this is that Pierce Road is maintained by the county. Speed limits are usually not posted on county roads.
"I've always wondered what the speed limit is," said junior Ashley Roggenbuck. "It's kind of weird that it's not posted."
Roggenbuck argued that a 55 mph speed limit may be a little too fast for the area. "It seems like it should be slower with all of the traffic and pedestrians, especially when the cross country runners are on the shoulder."
Trepkowski suggests that the current speed limit of 55 on Pierce Road is a bit outdated.
"A speed limit of 55 miles per hour on Pierce was probably good 20 years ago."
SVSU acquires section of Davis Road
The University has recently acquired the portion of Davis Road that runs north and south through campus near the athletic fields. Since then, the speed limit has been lowered to 35 mph from the previous limit of 45. The University also has plans to make that area of the road safer for the people crossing Davis to access the football field, baseball and softball diamonds, as well as the soccer field.
"Davis will be repaved and a sidewalk put in with curbs and gutters," Trepkowski said. "There will also be additional lighting so that it will be more like the other roads on campus. We want them to slow down and realize Davis is part of the university structure."
Issues of safety have always been in mind with the amount of cars that travel both Davis and Pierce roads. The speed limits can be difficult to enforce but the University is looking into several different ways to help reinforcement.
Traffic studies may be done to re-evaluate what the speed limit should be on Pierce Road. This may be necessary with all of the new additions to the campus.