Elk Grove Residents Say Safer Places To Walk Needed More Than Lower Speed Limits
ELK GROVE (CBS13) — Elk Grove city leaders are considering lowering speed limits in parts of the city as part of a safety push, but some neighbors think new signs are just a waste of money.
Because of the city's expanding population in recent decades, some city leaders believe it's outgrown its once quaint country roads.
Eve Strassburg lives near Waterman Road, a heavily traveled route east of Highway 99 that cuts through a community where new homes share the road with farmers.
"When we first moved here there was one stop light, stop sign," she said.
A city study says Waterman is one of nearly 60 roadways targeted for possible speed reduction over concerns about pedestrian safety and traffic hazards.
Strassburg, an Elk Grove resident since the 1970s, says the change couldn't come soon enough.
"I would like for them to reduce the speed limit. Cars fly down here," she said.
However, longtime resident Mark Forester says the issue isn't reducing the speed limit. When he learned it may cost taxpayers about $10,000 to replace some speed limit signs, he says that money should go to build more sidewalks instead.
"If people are on bicycles, walking on the dirt down here," he said. "They're walking because there's nowhere else to go. So what they do is they go up on the street."
The City Council is expected to weigh in on the new speed limit signs on Wednesday.