Sign up for TPR Today, Texas Public Radio's newsletter that brings our top stories to your inbox each morning.
The San Antonio City Council may soon consider lowering the speed limit for many city streets to 25 miles per hour. The current speed limit for most city streets is 30 miles per hour.
District 7 Councilmember Marina Alderete Gavito wrote the proposal in an effort to reduce traffic accidents and make city streets safer.
“Our neighborhoods should be places where people feel safe and comfortable—not where speeding cars put others at risk,” said Alderete Gavito, as quoted in a city statement. “This change is a common-sense solution that prioritizes people over speed.”
The city statement also explained that the proposal envisions the lower speed limit primarily for "neighborhoods within a quarter-mile radius of schools, community centers, and parks."
“There's some work that we need to be done around traffic code and how we request for this to happen," Interim Assistant City Manager John Peterek. "So we would work on that work, but we would recommend that this CCR go to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.”
That council committee would need to approve the plan before it went before the council for a full vote.
Councilmembers Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, Teri Castillo, John Courage, and Marc Whyte support the plan.
The statement also included a report from the National Traffic Safety Board that demonstrated that "lower speed limits decrease the chances of fatalities. The Councilmember believes this proposal is a simple yet impactful step toward creating safer streets for all San Antonians."
