FLAGLER BEACH, Fla. – Police in Flagler Beach said they have done the research, and the speed limit should be lowered in the city.
The police chief told News 6 on Thursday that he would present the department and engineer’s findings to the city commission. Currently, cars can go faster on some of the residential streets than they can on A1A.
The speed limit on the scenic A1A stretch through Flagler Beach switches pretty quickly, especially heading north from Ormond: It goes from 55 mph to 45 mph, to 35 mph, and then, eventually, to 25 through a good chunk of the city.
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The 25 mph stretch is the section the city leaders want to address because one street west on South Central Boulevard, the speed is 30 mph and there are no sidewalks.
“When they’re coming typically south to north, they’re coming off of a higher speed limit off of A1A and they follow that trend,” said resident Robert Dye.
Dye, who lives on South Central Boulevard, said he believes a change of speed is needed.
“You really have to pay attention to what’s coming and going, especially when you walk the dog,” he said.
On top of speeding, A1A itself has been an issue. It’s been hit pretty hard in storms over the last decade leading to closures and now huge construction projects to fix it that drivers try to avoid by using those residential streets.
“We had a washout last month where we had to divert traffic off of A1A which was 45 mph onto a residential street,” said Police Chief Matt Doughney.
Prior to that washout, Doughney said they had just finished a year-long speed study in February using hidden radars on four of the roads that are 30 mph following complaints from residents.
The radar was used for a week on each street.
The study found on two of the streets, there was speeding, but many drivers also stayed around 30 mph.
On the other two, though, drivers actually went at 30 mph or a notch under.
“Our recommendation is to reduce the speed limit only on the city streets within Flagler Beach so that does not include State Road A1A or State Road 100,” said Doughney.
Police are now recommending doing a uniform 20 mph on all city streets both beachside and across the bridge on the west side of the city.
Ultimately, that will be up to city commissioners, who are talking about this at their commission meeting Thursday night.
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