At the December 2018 Town Council Meeting, staff was directed to conduct a town-wide speed study to assess the potential of reducing the speed limit on all residential streets to 25 mph. The primary intent of conducting the speed limit reduction study is to improve vehicular, pedestrian, and bicyclist safety. Prior to commencing the speed study, Town staff contacted Miami-Dade County Transportation and Public Works Department (DTPW) for guidance on the study methodology for this effort.

DTPW advised that for the Town to lower the speed limit to 25 mphon local residential streets, the Town would need to prepare a traffic study that shows data and analysis explaining how this is warranted within the town limits. They provided the Town with a copy of the speed study conducted by the City of Coral Gables for further guidance.

The methodology used by the City of Coral Gables followed the guidelines and procedures outlined in the manual for Speed Zone for Highways, Roads, and Streets in Florida, established by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). Based on the procedures the following actions were taken:

• The City of Coral Gables was divided into 5 areas for data collection purposes.
• Vehicle speed data was collected for seven consecutive days on five residential streets in each area.
• Based on the results of the speed data, the city-wide 85^th percentile speed was calculated.
• FDOT requirements establish that a speed limit should not differ from the 85^th percentile speed by more than 3 mph and by less than 8 mph. A speed limit of 4 to 8 mph less than the 85^th percentile speed will be supported by supplement investigation. Therefore, if the calculated 85^th percentile speed is between 22 mph and 28 mph, a recommendation will be made to have the speed limit on residential streets posted to 25 mph.
• If the calculated 85^th percentile speed is between 29 mph and 33 mph, supplemental investigation will be conducted before a recommendation is made. The supplemental investigation will include roadway items such as, length of segment, alignment, roadway width, surface conditions, sight distance, traffic volume, cash experience, etc.

Furthermore, the Town staff reached out to the City of Coral Gables to obtain the scope of work and fee estimate of this type of study. The speed study approximately cost the City of Coral Gables $25K to conduct. Currently, Town staff is working with our engineering consultants to develop a scope and fee estimate comparable to that of the City of Coral Gables.

Once the study is completed, it will be submitted to DTPW for their review and approval. After receiving the approval, the installation and maintenance of the signs will have to be processed through an Intergovernmental Agency Agreement (ILA) with the DTPW. The Town will then need to develop a design plan, depicting the locations for the new speed limit signs and submit them to DTPW for review and written approval.