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Mostly Cloudy What’s the speed limit on Wantagh Avenue?
The recently released traffic study by an engineering firm representing Taco Bell was completed based on the speed limit on that section of Wantagh Avenue begin 40 mph. That got us thinking: isn’t it 30?
Indeed, the speed limit is 30 on Wantagh Avenue, south of Jerusalem Avenue. What’s been harder to find out, is when was the speed limit lowered, and who lowered it?
For southbound traffic on Wantagh Avenue, there is a sign that reads “Town Speed Limit 30” on a metal pole, below a bus stop sign and above a “No Stopping” sign. In the corner of the speed limit sign, which is placed about 100 feet south of Jerusalem Avenue, it says “TOH” in small letters, meaning that the sign was installed by the Town of Hempstead.
Google Streetview, which captured images of that stretch of Wantagh Avenue in December 2011, shows a 40 mph sign there, meaning the speed limit has apparently been lowered within the past three years.
Hempstead’s online town code tells a different story. It indicates that the speed limit for Wantagh Avenue from Hicksville Road in Levittown south to Manchester Road in Wantagh is 40 mph.
The four-lane stretch of Wantagh Avenue, from Jerusalem used to be 40 mph. The speed limit would drop down to 30 at Waterbury Drive, where drivers can find the first posted speed limit sign since the one just south of Jerusalem Avenue, a three-quarter mile stretch. There is a “Reduced Speed Zone Ahead” sign for southbound traffic near Island Road, a sign that appears moot now, as the speed limit is a continuous 30 mph from Jerusalem Avenue all way to Merrick Road.
Headed northbound, there are several 30 mph signs, all about a quarter-mile apart from each other from Park Avenue to Manchester Road. After that, there are no other signs posted for a three-quarter mile stretch to Jerusalem Avenue.
North of Jerusalem Avenue, the speed limit rises to 40 mph and is clearly signed.
A spokesperson for the town said that because Wantagh Avenue is maintained by Nassau County, the county sets the speed limit, but the town is responsible for hanging signs. Representatives from the county said that the town sets speed limits, even on county roads.
A sergeant with the Seventh Precinct, which patrols Wantagh, said that the speed limit in the Town of Hempstead is 30 mph, unless otherwise posted. He said that police officers enforce the speed limit posted on the signs, and that signs should be placed at minimum every half mile.
If a driver were going the 30 mph speed limit, and signs were posted every half-mile, they would see a sign every minute. With signs spaced more than that on the stretch of Wantagh Avenue between Jerusalem Avenue and Manchester Road, drivers seem to have little indication as to what the speed limit is.
Karen Chowske, who has lived in Wantagh for more than two decades, always recalls that stretch of road being 40 mph, and did not realize until recently that it was 30 when her daughter began to drive, and pointed out the one and only sign.
“I thought it was 40,” she said. “I never heard of it being lowered, and the reduce your speed sign is still there.”
Chowkse said knowing now that it is 30, she tries to keep her speed as close to that as possible without “people running me off the road.”
John and Terry Clark, of Manchester Road, emailed us to provide some insight after we published a story about Taco Bell traffic study a few weeks back. We reported that the speed limit was 40, and the 30 mph sign was likely posted in error. That was based on hasty calls on deadline day, with town and county officials passing the responsibility of setting speed limits to the other.
The Clarks said they were part of a committee at St. Frances de Chantal Parish which got Nassau County to install a traffic light in front of the church because of the “unnatural intersection” shared by the church, supermarket and bowling alley. They also said that the speed limit was lowered as a calming measure about three years ago after several accidents.
The 30 mph sign just south of Jerusalem Avenue is the only one that remains of several installed when the speed limit was lowered, the Clarks said.
All signs, including ones that don’t exist, point to the speed limit on Wantagh Avenue begin 30 mph in its entirety south of Jerusalem Avenue.
