Q: Dear Ask Us Guy:
I have two questions about the stretch of Madison Avenue between Riverfront Drive and the top of the hill (Dane Street).
The eastbound lanes (going uphill) are posted at 35 miles an hour. However, the posted speed limit in the westbound lanes change from 35 miles an hour to 30 miles an hour about halfway down.
1) Why does the speed limit decrease as you go farther down the hill?
2) Could this possibly be the only road in Minnesota where the speed limit actually decreases as you make your way downhill?
A: This question is reminiscent of another sent to Ask Us Guy a few years ago by a driver who thought STOP signs, for environmental reasons, should be enforced as if they were actually SLOW DOWN signs. That would save on gas consumption and reduce exhaust emissions, the reader reasoned.
The answer by city officials in 2018 was pretty basic. The law is the law. Under the law, stop means stop. Cops are sworn to enforce the law as its written. If following the law reduces drivers’ average miles per gallon, that’s the breaks.
The current question suggests the mid-hill change in speed limits is illogical and counterintuitive, forcing downhill drivers to slow down while allowing uphill drivers to speed up. If gravity is providing a free ride for vehicles traveling down the Madison Avenue hill, why does the city suddenly switch from a 35 mph speed limit to 30 mph — forcing drivers to hit the brakes and then return more quickly to consuming fuel when they reach the bottom of the hill?
Interim Public Works Director Karl Keel, after consulting with city Traffic Engineer Maury Hooper, laid out the rationale.
Essentially, Keel explained, the change in speed limits on the Madison Avenue hill has nothing to do with the hill. As the reader noted, the changing speed limit applies to vehicles traveling in both directions.
“The 30 mph speed zone west of North 7th Street reflects the statutory speed limit for an urban district, as established under Minnesota Statute 169.14,” Keel wrote. “The roadway is posted in accordance with this requirement.”
So the speed limit signs on Madison Avenue just indicate that drivers going up the hill are leaving downtown Mankato and entering a less urban area where drivers are permitted to go a bit faster. Conversely, drivers coming down the Madison Avenue hill see a speed limit sign that signifies they are entering the downtown urban district where the maximum speed drops to 30 mph.
The 30 mph zone remains consistent throughout downtown Mankato and adjacent neighborhoods. The 35 mph zone beginning on the uphill portion of Madison Avenue actually continues to increase incrementally the farther east one goes and the less urban it becomes — jumping to 45 mph near the Aldi store and reaching 55 on the way to Eagle Lake.
“More simply stated: The change in posted speeds reflects the change from a more urban setting to a more suburban setting,” Keel said of eastbound drivers.
And where there are similar situations in other parts of Minnesota — where a community shifts from a less-urbanized district to a more-urbanized area and the boundary happens to be on a hillside — the speed limit is undoubtedly reduced in those places, too, even if it bums out drivers to have to be riding the brakes.
“Minnesota Statute 169.14 does not provide for grade-based adjustments to statutory speed limits,” Keel said. “As a result, similar conditions may exist elsewhere in the state where roadway classification and statutory requirements govern the posted speed, regardless of grade.”
Ask Us Guy verified that by looking at a couple of cities with downtowns at the bottom of a valley or steep grade — Winona and Duluth — and both have mid-hill speed limit reductions on major entrances to the city.
Contact Ask Us at The Free Press, 418 S. Second St., Mankato, MN 56001. Call Mark Fischenich at 344-6321 or email your question to mfischenich@mankatofreepress.com; put Ask Us in the subject line.