City's effort to reduce speed limit is paying off — sort of

HARTINGTON — The speed limit on Highway 84 west of Hartington will soon be changing.

The Hartington City Council Monday approved new ordinances adjusting the speed limit just west of Pomp's Tire Service down to 55 miles per hour from the current 65 mph. It will then decrease to 45 mph just west of Bomgaars.

The city recently annexed the property in this area partly in an effort to have better control over the speed limit entering Hartington in the southwest part of town.

'We’ve been trying to get the speed reduced here for a while, now,' said Hartington Mayor Mark Becker.

Becker said he had hoped the state of Nebraska would allow the city to drop the speed limit to 45 and 35 miles per hour.

'They did not want to do that,' he said, adding Department of Transportation officials indicated more accidents often occur when the speed limit drops dramatically from 65 mph down to 35 mph rather than slowing traffic down gradually.

Becker said a radar sign that flashes a vehicle's speed limit is also being discussed for this stretch of road in order to help slow down traffic.

'Six months after that sign would go up, we could do another traffic study. That should be enough time for the traffic patterns to normalize so a traffic study would reflect more people abiding by the speed limit,' he said.

An increased police presence on that stretch of road might also be added, he said, in order to keep the speed limit down. That new speed study might then allow the city to drop the speed limit by another 10 miles per hour, Becker said.

'There are no guarantees, but it's worth a shot,' Becker said.

Also Monday, the Council agreed to purchase a used Gator from Grossenburg Implement for $9,500.

The Council also gave its approval to take out a five-year, 5 percent loan from the Bank of Hartington for the purchase of a new garbage truck.

The Council also approved a proclamation naming Thursday, April 25, as Arbor Day in Hartington.