Council Approves Raising of Speed Limit on Mountain View

Motorists will soon be able to travel faster on a section of Mountain View Avenue.

Loma Linda’s City Council recently approved a plan to raise the speed limit between Van Leuven Street and Prospect Avenue to 40 miles per hour.

City maintenance crews were given the green light to change the signs from 35 miles per hour to the higher speed on both north and southbound Mountain View.

A public hearing was held June 14. Loma Linda Resident Dick Wylie told council members he was concerned the change would cause crashes because drivers, many who already speed through there, would become worse.

“Rules are rules,” Wylie said, adding that people often behave as if, “they’re for you but they’re not for me.”

“My understanding from our lieutenant is that the enforcement of the 35 speed limit over the bridge has been difficult it can be determined by some judges to be a speed trap because it’s 40, 35, 40,” said Loma Linda Mayor Rhodes Rigsby.

“I think enforcement would be easier if there was a consistent speed limit across the bridge,” Rigsby said. “So from that perspective, I think it’s a good move.”

The issue was first brought up in early May to the Traffic Advisory Committee, who voted then to support it.

The council and committee based their decision on a speed survey conducted by the city that determined most of the traffic on Mountain View was traveling at more than 40 miles per hour.

“That is an anomaly section right there,” said Jeff Peterson, an associate engineer for Loma Linda told the Traffic Committee in May.

Cities survey the speeds of free flowing traffic on their streets every five years. Speeds are normally set according to how fast 85 percent of traffic is flowing. The last survey was conducted was commissioned by Loma Linda in 2007.

The speed limit was set low that stretch because of how narrow the road was, especially at the bridge, city officials said.