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Bauxite reduces speed limit on West Sardis Road |
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Monday, 17 December 2007 |
 Bauxite Mayor Gary Duncan uses a self-drawn map to explain why the speed limit on the city’s portion of West Sardis Road has been reduced from 45 mph to 35.
City officials say they have received some negative feedback on the recent change, but contend it was done for the sake of safety.
A meeting was held at 10 a.m. Friday to explain why the speed was reduced, but no one attended except the Courier. Mayor Gary Duncan said he has received calls from people wanting to know why the speed was reduced and he said he invited them to attend the meeting.
The reduced speed starts from the point that drivers turn onto West Sardis from Arkansas 183 to the end of the Bauxite city limits, which is just past the landfill. It’s nine-tenths of a mile. Duncan said the travel time results in a 14-second difference.
Using a map drawn on a dry-erase board, he pointed to some widening that will be done on the road. He said it can be dangerous to perform work on the roadway with cars passing by at speeds in the 50s and 60s.
Duncan said he realizes not everyone will go exactly 35 mph. He said tickets won’t be issued for going a couple miles above the speed limit.
Police Chief Jimmy Hood said warnings will be given through this week to those traveling about 10 miles over the limit to give the public a chance to become accustomed to the change.
Hood said the area will be patrolled by officers actually driving on the road. Including Hood, three full-time and four part-time officers comprise the police department.
Duncan said a traffic light will be installed in June at the 183-Sardis intersection, which is another reason for the speed reduction.
Bauxite has been called a speed trap.
Referring to his time as mayor since January, Duncan said the label is inaccurate.
“I don’t think it is,” he said. “We’re limited by the state by how many tickets we can write.”
He said only 30 percent of the city’s revenue can come from fines.
When he became mayor, Duncan said he had to reverse the trend of writing too many tickets. “I said we have to slow them down rather than speed them up,” he said.
According to statistics from city records, speeding makes up 24.5 percent of all issued citations.
The landfill is the only business on the road.
Dennis Wills, executive director of the Saline County Regional Solid Waste Management District, said, “We didn’t ask for it,” referring to the reduced speed limit. “It’s probably better for the people stopping and going in and out of the landfill to go slower than 45 mph,” he said.
Duncan said he plans to post “Reduced Speed Ahead” signs and make the current signs reflective for night drivers.
Excluding the highway that runs through town, now with the addition of West Sardis, all roads in Bauxite are 35 mph, the mayor said.
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