On Feb. 17, the Edina City Council met to discuss speed limits on local streets. Following that discussion, the council voted unanimously to lower the speed limit on the majority of Edina local streets from 30 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour. 

Previously, cities in Minnesota were not given the authority to alter speed limits. However, starting on August 1, 2019, cities have been able to set independent speed limits on local roads, after the state legislature ruled in favor of the proposal. 

According to Andrew Scipioni, the city of Edina’s Transportation Planner, the council has been in favor of lowering speed limits for over 14 years. Last spring, Minneapolis and St. Paul lowered their speed limits on most streets to 20 miles per hour, igniting new discussion on Edina speed limits. In a survey concerning residents’ opinions on the initiative to lower Edina speed limits to 25 miles per hour, roughly 51% of respondents  were in favor of the measure.

Scipioni explains that the new speed limits will make transportation easier for cyclists and pedestrians, promoting safety and equity. “The typical way that. . . the industry has set speed limits only looks at motor vehicle traffic [and] doesn’t take any consideration to how many pedestrians or cyclists are on the road. . . so setting speed limits in a different manner like what we’re proposing really provides them some additional safety and some additional consideration,” Scipioni said. 

While the majority of streets will be set at 25 miles per hour, four-lane streets and streets with lots of non-residential traffic are set at 30 miles per hour. School zones will still be set at 20 or 15 miles per hour and alleys will remain at 10 miles per hour.