A bill allowing Portland to lower the speed limit on some residential streets is headed for the Oregon Senate.
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Right now, Oregon cities must get state permission to change speed limits on local roads. But a state Senate transportation committee approved a bill Monday that would let Portland change speed limits on some residential streets.
City leaders want to drop the speed limit to 20 miles an hour as part of the Vision Zero effort to cut traffic fatalities. The legislation covers residential streets that are not arterials. Many of those streets currently have a 25 mph speed limit.
Sen. Rod Monroe likes the idea. He represents outer East Portland, where many residents live on roads that are unpaved or lack sidewalks.
“They are actually walking in the streets or riding their bicycles in the streets or their wheelchairs in the streets,” he said. “It becomes a great increased danger, because of the lack of sidewalks in those areas.”
The bill now moves to the full Oregon Senate. House members approved it by a 55-1 vote last month.
The original legislation would have allowed all Oregon cities and counties the freedom to change speed limits on a wider array of roads without approval from the Oregon Department of Transportation.