Town seeks 30-mph speed limit on 3 roads
TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y. » The town wants the state to declare 30-mph speed limits on Brabrant Road, Barbarosa Lane and Wiedy Road.
Because the three roads have no posted speed limits, except for a 30-mph sign that covers just 3,000 feet of Brabrant Road, drivers allowed to drive at the state’s non-highway maximum of 55 mph.
“Any street or road that does not have a posted speed limit is, by law, 55 miles per hour,” town Supervisor James Quigley said. “There are several residential streets over by Suburban Propane ... where the neighbors have been complaining about people going in excess of the speed limit.”
Barbarosa Lane and Wiedy Road are both off of Brabrant Road, which connects to Sawkill Road.
Brabrant has a 30-mph sign near its intersection with Sawkill Road, but Ulster Police Department Lt. Kyle Berardi said that limit, posted on what’s known as a “linear sign,” is in effect for only 3,000 feet because no additional sign exists after that distance.
There also is a small 30mph sign on the property at 63 Brabrant Road, but it appears to have been placed there unofficially by a resident who wants drivers to slow down.
Quigley said the town has been receiving consistent complaints over the past two years from residents of areas where there are no speed limit signs.
“We’re reviewing the townwide road inventory to determine what other roads we have similar circumstances on,” he said.
Quigley said speed enforcement is difficult on rural roads that have no posted limits.
“Drivers don’t know what the speed limit is because it’s not posted,” he said. “Furthermore, not having a posted speed limit makes it difficult for the police department to enforce the speed limit with a ticket.”