City Council Meeting Date: November 17, 2026
To: Mayor and Members of Council
City Administrator
From: David Bennett, Public Work Director/City Engineer
Sean M. Simonson, Engineering Manager
Title
Discuss Draft Report for the City-Wide Local Speed Limit Study.
Body
Action Requested:
None, Discussion and Council Input
Summary Report:
In August of 2019 the State legislature enacted a new law that allows City’s to set speed limits on roadways under their jurisdictional control, where previously all speed studies went through MnDOT to establish roadway speed limits.
Since the new law has been in place, there have been a handful of City’s that have implemented City Wide speed limits. There are typically two different approaches:
Uniform
One speed limit on all local streets
Inexpensive and quicker to implement
Consistent driver expectation
Typically, 25 mph with few exceptions (20 MPH Minneapolis/St. Paul)
Tiered System
Speed Limits established by roadway classification
Residential, collectors
Requires more signage and education
The City of Northfield held two public meetings to gather feedback on the Speed Limit Study. Throughout the study, the city also used an interactive website to collect input on the study’s direction and proposed speed limits.
Based on the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) which outlines a speed limit setting procedure, which was used for this study, the recommended speed limits, current average and 85th percentile speeds, and a holistic evaluation of roadway context and use (as well as system consistency), and public feedback, the roadways in the city of Northfield are recommended to have a citywide speed limit of 25 miles per hour unless otherwise posted. 25 mph was determined based on the nineteen data collection points, public feedback, safety statistics, and alignment with national guidance as well as state statute. Beyond the 25 mph city-wide speed limit, three additional tiers of speed limits are also...
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