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An ordinance lowering the speed limit on streets designated as local streets on the Major and Collector Street Plan within the Urban Services District from 30 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour, allowing exceptions to that general reduction to be granted by the Metropolitan Traffic and Parking Commission, and amending Section 12.20.020 of the Metropolitan Code.
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WHEREAS, Tennessee Code Annotated subsections 55-8-153(c)(2) and (d) allow the legislative bodies of municipalities and counties to prescribe lower speed limits within certain areas, zones, streets, or roads within their jurisdictions; and,
WHEREAS, Metropolitan Charter Section 11.904 authorizes the adoption of traffic regulations establishing speed zones upon Metropolitan streets and roads by the Metropolitan Traffic and Parking Commission; and,
WHEREAS, a federal study of pedestrian/vehicle crashes in the US shows that collisions at an impact speed of 23 miles per hour are half as likely to cause pedestrians severe injury or death as collisions at 31 miles per hour; and
WHEREAS, lowering the speed limit on streets designated as local streets on the Major and Collector Street Plan within the Urban Services District from 30 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour has been proposed to increase safety for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists (the Neighborhood Speed Limit Reduction Project); and,
WHEREAS, at its meeting on November 18, 2019, the Metropolitan Traffic and Parking Commission passed a motion approving the Neighborhood Speed Limit Reduction Project; and,
WHEREAS, to the extent there is a need to make exceptions to the general speed limit reduction accomplished by the Neighborhood Speed Limit Reduction Project, and to allow the speed limit to remain at a speed other than 25 miles per hour in some locations, it is advisable for the Metropolitan Traffic and Parking Commission to be authorized to approve such exceptions; and,
WHEREAS, Section 12.20.020.A. of the Metropolitan Code currently...
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