Reduced Hwy. LL Speed Approved

The Ozaukee County board approved the reduction of the speed limit on a portion of Hwy. LL this week, according to Port Washington Common Council Ald. Dan Becker, who is also a County Board member.

in order to curb a high number of accidents at the intersection of Sunset Road and Highway LL by reducing the speed limit on Hwy. LL to 35 mph.

The current speed limit in that area of Hwy. LL is 45 mph, but officials are hoping the 10 mph reduction will decrease the number of accidents that more often than not result in some sort of injury.

The intersection has stop signs on Sunset Road, and the  says that most drivers involved in accidents, while at these stop signs, reported that cars on Hwy. LL looked farther away when they were.

Plus, city officials said, the stop signs seem to be only a suggestion to most people.

"The cars do stop, but it's more of a rolling stop and for one reason or another they seem to misjudge the cars on LL," City Administrator Mark Grams said at a council meeting last week.

In a five-year study of the intersection, Port Washington police show 11 accidents with 8 resulting in personal injury of either a driver or occupant, with failure to yield tickets often being issued.

This compares to another high-accident intersection in Port Washington, Spring Street and Grand Avenue, where a five-year student produced a total of 17 crashes but only three of those leading to injury.

The speed limit change affects the area of Hwy. LL after turning off Hwy. 32 until crossing the new roundabout on Hwy. 33 and then a bit further after that, Becker said.