HOWELL – Councilmembers passed an ordinance to make the entire length of Arnold Boulevard a no passing zone.
The move came in response to resident Paul Reyberger’s repeated concerns about the roadway’s safety, which he addressed at multiple town council meetings and The Howell Times reported on in March.
Reyberger claimed that Arnold Blvd. was being used as a main truck route, and as a result, cars would attempt to pass these trucks and exceed the 35mph speed limit in the process of getting around them. There has been at least one accident on the roadway that resulted in several injuries, one of them critical, back in 2011.
According to Traffic Officer Matthew Cherney of the Howell Police, a radar recorder was placed on Arnold Boulevard near the County Lane intersection between September 13 and October 2 of 2016, which found that the 85 percentile were driving an average of 49 mph.
“In an effort to reduce speeding, I requested additional patrol presence during peak times,” said Officer Cherney in an email. “Since the beginning of the year, this department has made 70 car stops on Arnold Blvd.”
The traffic unit has also placed a trailer on the side of the road that displays motorists’ speed as they approach it.
Reyberger attended the May 2 meeting where the ordinance was passed to thank Mayor Theresa Berger and council members for their help in addressing the issue, especially during budget time, and also noted that the speeding seems to be a lot better recently.
“I just really came here to thank everybody for the effort that you put into it. I think by putting this thing back with all the truck traffic on the road, I don’t have to worry anymore about these cars passing the trucks,” he said, adding, “I think this is going to go a long way as far as safety goes.”
“We listened to you, and we talked about it, the manager did some homework and I think you’ll see some other things happen over there too over time – this is what we can do for now,” echoed Councilman Robert Walsh.
