MnDOT to Conduct Speed Study Along Sibley Memorial Highway in Lilydale

The Minnesota Department of Transportation will be performing spot speed checks and monitoring traffic flows along the stretch of Henry Sibley Memorial Highway between the River Bluff Center and the Mendota city limits in the near future.

The speed study is an effort to determine what, if any, changes to the road's speed limit are appropriate. The speed limit along Sibley Memorial Highway is currently 40 mph through Lilydale, dropping to 30 mph near the Mendota city limits.

Although Lilydale City Administrator Teish Stafne said that questions about the speed limit along Sibley Memorial Highway have been made repeatedly in the city over the last 30 years, the request that a new speed study be conducted came as the result of an unrelated March 29 meeting between MnDOT officials, representatives of Lilydale and area residents.

At that meeting, convened to discuss the necessity of which are being installed at the intersection of Highway 13 and Interstate 35E, Mayor Anita Pampusch asked representatives from MnDOT about the possibility of lowering the speed limit along Sibley Memorial Highway.

Sheila Kauppi, a project manager for MnDOT, informed those in attendance that speed limits were set by state statue, but that the city could make a written request that a speed study be conducted.

After discussion at an April 11 city council meeting, Lilydale requested that a speed study be conducted. MnDOT approved the request.

Because MnDOT does not want the results of studies swayed by anything besides hard data, even city officials don't know exactly when the tests will be performed.

“(We were told) that the speed study will be conducted in an unbiased manner,” said Stafne. "We’re not going to get any notification of when it’s being done and how they’re doing it."

The upcoming study will be the first performed along that stretch of Sibley Memorial in 17 years, said Stafne.

Speed studies are the most important test MnDOT uses to determine the appropriate speed limit for a road. After doing radar checks, the agency performs a technical analysis on the accumulated speed data to determine the "85th percentile." This indicates the speed at which most drivers (85 percent) are traveling under. The agency tries to make sure that a road's speed limit is close to this value.

"They (MnDOT) will come in and do a speed study and authorize the community to change the roads," said Mendota Heights Chief of Police Mike Aschenbrener. "Sometimes a city will request it and MnDOT will actually raise the speed limit, based on road and design. You have to be careful when you request something, you may not get the answer you want."

Aschenbrener reported that the police department gives out plenty of speeding tickets along that stretch of Sibley Memorial. He estimated that there was a 50/50 chance the speed limit would be reduced and virtually no chance that MnDOT would determine it should be increased.

Aschenbrener estimated that Sibley Memorial could stand to see its speed limit reduced between Lexington and .

Stafne reiterated that, while the city had made the petition in response to questions concerning safety and the road's speed limit through Lilydale, it will defer to the agency's judgment.

"The city is open to what MnDOT believes," Stafne said. "We'd like it to be a little more urbanized, where things are slowed down a little through town, but no one made a designation on what will be an appropriate speed limit. They're leaving that up to MnDOT to decide."