The first is a less than one quarter-mile portion of Butler Road from League City Parkway to Turner Street. The new speed limit is 35 MPH—10 MPH more than its previous limit of 25 MPH.
Staff did a traffic study of this area June 21-23 and found the 85th percentile speed of vehicles averaged about 33 MPH. In other words, 85% of motorists during the study traveled at 33 MPH or less.
Engineering Director Chris Sims said it is common to set speed limits at the 85th percentile of speed vehicles travel, prompting staff to recommend a speed limit for 35 MPH for this road.
The second change was to set a speed limit on Turner Street from Calder Road to Butler Road at 30 MPH. Previously, the street’s limit was 25 MPH.
Mayor Pro Tem Hank Dugie asked why this limit was set 5 MPH lower than Butler’s. Sims said the 85th percentile speed during a study was 29 MPH, prompting a recommended speed limit of 30 MPH.
Dugie said it was “odd” to change speed limits based on the 85th percentile speed because that means drivers have to be regularly speeding to justify increasing speed limits.
“If you want your speed limit to go up, [everyone] needs to start speeding,” he said.
The third road was Cross Colony Drive from Calder Road to FM 646. Staff recommended increasing its speed limit from 25 MPH to 30 MPH, despite the 85th percentile speed being 35 MPH, because the road has some blind spots and driveways, Sims said.
Council Member Chad Tressler noted the road is a collector road and made a motion to set its speed at 35 MPH, which passed with only Council Member Andy Mann opposed.
