Why can’t Meridian set Eagle Road speed limit? Idaho Legislature cut cities off in 2012

After Idaho Statesman reporter Rachel Spacek wrote a moving story about the tragic death of a young woman who was killed in a car crash on Eagle Road, our editorial board wrote an editorial calling for possible changes on Eagle Road as well as similar roads, such as Meridian Road, which is also a state highway.

When I shared the editorial on Twitter, no fewer than three Meridian City Council members responded or retweeted it, saying changes needed to be made or the speed limit needed to be reduced.

Well, I thought, you guys are the City Council members, make it happen.

Turns out it’s not that simple, because of a state law passed in 2012 that essentially took away the ability of local jurisdictions — such as the city of Meridian — to set the speed limit themselves.

Literally, the law removed the language: “Provided, this subsection shall not limit the authority of the duly elected officials of an incorporated city acting as a local authority to decrease speed limits on state highways passing through any districts within the incorporated city.”

The bill was introduced by then-Rep. Leon Smith, a Republican from Twin Falls, who said small towns were abusing their authority by reducing the speed limit on the main highway through their town to 25 mph, becoming a revenue source for the city as speeders were caught.

Smith specifically cited Idaho Highway 75 through Bellevue as an example of where that was happening.

The bill returned the function of setting state highway speed limits within city limits to ITD, which, bill supporters argued, has the engineering staff to do the necessary safety studies.

And so Eagle Road remains 55 mph for that nearly 5-mile stretch of state highway.

But, as our editorial pointed out, Eagle Road over the past several years has become a hybrid: It’s a high-speed freeway, with a speed limit of 55 mph handling upwards of 60,000 vehicles trips per day, but it’s also a local shopping district, with dozens of businesses, The Village at Meridian, other shops and restaurants lining the road.

Roads like Eagle Road have been dubbed “stroads,” a combination of street and road, and have been notable for their danger.

In the case of 21-year-old Kess Boesch, she died when the person who was driving her car made a left-hand turn, and their car was struck by a pickup truck coming in the opposite direction at 53 mph.

Through the efforts of the Boesch family, the city of Meridian is pushing for changes on Eagle Road, with Meridian Mayor Robert Simison calling for lower speed limits.

“Why must this road be driven at 55 through Meridian?” Simison said in his state of the city address, calling Eagle Road “a race track.”

To that end, City Council members will meet with the ITD board during a City Council work session at 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 23 in council chambers at City Hall, 33 E. Broadway Ave., Meridian, to discuss speed limits on Eagle Road.

“We certainly support Mayor Simison’s call for lowering the speed limit,” Meridian City Council President Brad Hoaglun said by phone. “We just think that needs to happen. And then taking a look at these left-turn lanes.”

The bill passed in 2012 did allow for a municipality to contest the speed limit set by ITD, with the stipulation that any change be based on a traffic engineering study approved by ITD.

“I’m cautiously optimistic we’ll see some progress being made,” Hoaglun said. “But that’s what we’re going to have the meeting on the 23rd, for us to kind of hear what their plans are or what their issues or situation that they see it as. It might still be that they want to move traffic at a higher rate than we’re comfortable with. But we’ll see.”

Forgive the pun, but Meridian City Council members are in the driver’s seat here, even though the Legislature took some air out of the tires by limiting cities’ authority within their own city limits. They should keep the pressure on ITD.

The 2012 law does stipulate that the city can conduct a study of its own to justify a lower speed limit. Depending on how the Aug. 23 meeting goes, that might be in the cards.

“If it’s worth it, yes, we would request further information that might involve a traffic study for Eagle Road,” Hoaglun said. “But we’ll see what they (ITD) present. I mean, that’s kind of the situation where we are now. It’s upcoming. We’re going to hear from them and then we’ll have to determine our next steps depending on what comes from that meeting.”

Meridian City Council members: Don’t let this issue fade into the background, only to have it resurface the next time someone like Kess Boesch is killed.