Slow down on County Road 58; Holmes plans to reduce speed limit
MILLERSBURG — Following some complaints and a speed study, the Holmes County Engineer's Office has recommended the speed limit on part of County Road 58 be reduced.
Commissioners on Monday approved a resolution to ask the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) to reduce the speed from 55 mph to 45 mph on the leg of Road 58 from County Road 19 to state Route 83.
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Several complaints about speed on County Road 58 caused the county to do a traffic study, and the Engineer's Office recommended the speed reduction.
"The study was done, and now we submit our recommendation to ODOT, they review it and either give it the go ahead or revise it," Engineer Chris Young said. "They have been turning things around pretty quick, so as soon as we hear back, we'll go and erect the signs if the change is approved."
Change would impact two stretches covering more than 6 miles
There are two stretches of the road covering 3.7 miles from Clark to County Road 580 by Holmes Lumber on Country Road 407, and the second stretch covering 2.6 miles to the Millersburg corporation limit, just east of state Route 83.
The commissioners noted the legal speed limit of 55 mph is unrealistic on many roads in the county, largely due to the increased volume of traffic.
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"On many of these roads, 55 is too fast," said Commissioners Joe Miller. "They go between house and barn and there are more buildings there than when they were first built when there wasn't anybody around. It's a common complaint throughout the whole county."
Commissioner Rob Ault added the speed limit is 55 on most township roads around the county, and pointed out people can't drive safely at 55 on about 80 percent of those roads.
"Even though the speed limit says 55, there is such a thing as safe speed," Ault said.
Premium holiday on the books for December
In other business, the commissioners approved an insurance premium holiday for county employees for December.
Human Resources Director Misty Burns said she has received numerous emails and texts thanking the county for the holiday.
"It's nice that we have the funds available to do this," Ault said. "We have a lot of good employees working for the county."
Burns said there are 450 county employees, although not all of them are signed up for the insurance.
The commissioners also approved an agreement for 2022 with Erie County for guaranteed bed detention services for juvenile court, should a shortage of beds arise.
Ault said the agreement is for $70 per bed on an as-needed basis, as opposed to the former multi county contract that charged $500 whether the service was used or not.
"This is a big savings," Ault said. "We're glad we got out of that multi-county deal."
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Holmes submits request to ODOT for speed limit reduction
