In March, the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul announced that they were introducing a new standard for motor vehicle speed on residential streets in both cities: 20 miles per hour. This week, Minneapolis made it official, completing the installation of 20 mph signs along the city border to let drivers of the new limit.
Here, a look at what that means for drivers, and how it could impact street life in the cities:
So is it really 20 mph everywhere in Minneapolis and St. Paul?
The speed limit is now 20 mph in the city unless a different speed limit is otherwise posted. Larger streets, like Hennepin and Nicollet avenues, will be lowered from 30 mph to 25 mph, and a few city-owned streets still have limits above 30 mph, including West Lake Street near Lake Bde Maka Ska, and Cedar Avenue South over Lake Nokomis.
St. Paul plans to have its signs installed by early next year, said City Traffic Engineer Randy Newton. As in Minneapolis, St. Paul’s residential streets will be 20 mph, and larger streets like Minnehaha Avenue West will decrease from 30 mph to 25 mph. A few streets, including Phalen Boulevard, will be 35 mph.
County and MnDOT-owned roads will not have speed limit changes because Minnesota cities don’t have the authority to change county or state roads. The reason Minneapolis and St. Paul were able to change their speed limits in less than a year is because of a state law passed in August 2019 granting Minnesota cities the authority to change speed limits on streets they own without oversight from the state.
How diligently are the cities going to enforce it?
How each city enforces the new law may vary. Newton said St. Paul police will take “an educational approach” as the city rolls out speed limit changes. Minneapolis police spokesperson John Elder said the department is working with other city departments to help reduce crashes, but added that speed statutes will “continue to be enforced.”
Why now?
The Twin Cities are following a national trend to lower speed limits in order to minimize fatalities or life-changing injuries. Both St. Paul and Minneapolis have “Vision Zero” initiatives that aim to cut traffic deaths on city streets to zero by 2027. Driving at a slower speed means drivers have more time to react, which lowers the number of crashes. Lower speeds also reduce the severity of crashes. A person hit at 35 mph is three times as likely to die as someone hit at 25 mph, according to research in national studies and work by both cities. In fact, according to a National Transportation Safety Board study, the fatality risk in a frontal impact crash rose from 3 percent at 30 mph to 60 percent at 50 mph.
What does it mean for non-drivers?
The car has been king on American streets for generations. The slower limit hopes to cede some of the road back to everyone else. A pedestrian walking along a street with a 20 or 25 mph speed limit is at a lower risk of being involved in a collision, especially one that could alter their life. This has a huge effect on the level of comfort walkers, bicyclists and those taking public transit. According to Minneapolis’ Vision Zero Crash Study, 49 people died walking, riding a wheelchair or biking on Minneapolis streets between 2006 and 2015. While cyclists account for 5 percent of trips in the city, they represent nearly 20 percent of all crash fatalities. And though walkers are 20 percent of the city’s commuters, they make up 30 percent of all deaths and injuries.
What else?
Minneapolis’ Public Works Director Robin Hutcheson said speed limits can also be tied to racial equity, climate consciousness and prosperity. By lowering the speed limit, for example, the city can reduce the number of accidents — crashes that disproportionately impact people of color, she said. At the same time, reducing speeds makes it more comfortable for people not to drive, which reduces levels of greenhouse gasses that contribute to climate change. “Quality of life is behind everything we’re doing,” said Hutcheson. “Our streets, our right-of-ways, are the leverage points for the broad outcomes we want to see.”
I will admit to being a fast driver, and when I see the sign that says “20 is Plenty” and I’m going 36 in a residential zone, I cut my speed in half and I feel like I am crawling. That’s because I am in a car, behind the wheel.
For anyone who thinks 20 mph in a residential area is too slow I suggest you take some young children out on a walk. Try to safely cross an intersection with some toddlers where seconds before several hundred pounds of flying metal just flew through. It gives you an appreciation for the fragility of precious life amidst your blithe acceptance that speedy cars are the norm.
Thanks for being a thoughtful driver, tom. I hope the 20 is plenty idea can stick with you even when there isn’t a sign.
As a dedicated walker, I hope the changes will improve pedestrian safety.
As a frequent driver, I hope the changes will not impede necessary automotive travel.
We shall see whether commercial vehicles begin to encounter problems. We still need arterial street flow, despite pressure (much of it from cyclists who seem intent on using major streets) from those who denounce arterial streets as “car sewers.”
“Minneapolis…speed statutes will ‘continue to be enforced.'”
In the thirteen years I’ve lived in Minneapolis, I’ve never seen a speed trap, much less been pulled over on surface streets. If the current enforcement regime continues, the lowered limits will continue to be ignored.
Some people follow the law even if they won’t be punished for not doing so.
Totally anecdotal from my small slice of Minneapolis, but so far people do seem to have slowed down.
Well, I’m not sure how much they’ve slowed down, but *I* have definitely slowed down to speeds much closer to the new limit and so far no one has been aggressive towards me about it.
Driving is becoming a more and more miserable experience in Minnesota. First they increase congestion by taking away lanes to add bike paths and now they are slowing traffic even more by lowering the speed limit. One has to wonder if there is some kind of anti-car ulterior motive going on. It may be time to cut back on visiting businesses in the city and order more on-line. Let the Amazon drivers deal with it.
As a pedestrian, bicyclist, and driver, I’ve noticed drivers running stop signs anywhere from 5mph to 20mph. It’s a scary experience knowing that the driver won’t see my dog or me during early morning walks despite our reflective garb on since their inattentiveness would be the cause of my injury or death.
Meanwhile, laws are written in such a way that these scofflaws won’t even get a ticket for maiming or killing.
The city streets are for the residents of the city, paid for by the citizens of the city, and users should be respectful of the residents whose neighborhoods they are driving through.
Slow speed limits save lives and I’m glad these 20 mph laws were passed.
Sure, if people actually drive it. Enforce it? They have barely have enough officers to respond to serious crimes. Given most people were already doing more like 40-45 in a 30-35 zone–think of 28th st, Park, Portland, Golden Valley Rd. people may slow more to 30-35 and for most not much more, Imagining things doesn’t make them come true.
If all it does is gets people to slow down from 40-45 to 30-35, then I’ll take it. It will have made the streets safer.
And as I said earlier, some people will obey the law even if they won’t get punished for not doing so. Some people are respectful of bikers and pedestrians. Some people won’t put lives at risk to get to their destination 2 minutes earlier.
Back in the 80’s, when the speed limit on interstate freeways was raised from 55 to 65, a friend of mine said, “Now we can go 75, right? Because when the limit was 55 we all went 65.”
Bingo!
The “effective” speed limit on freeways is always going to be 10 mph over the posted speed because the infraction only counts against your driver’s license if you’re more than 10 mph over, so the State Patrol is not going to bother stopping you until you’re over speed limit plus 10 mph.
And of those streets – Park Avenue is County Rd. 33; Portland Avenue is County Rd. 35 and Golden Valley Rd. is County Rd. 66. Not disputing your observation that people are driving too fast on those streets, just pointing out that they are county roads and therefore unaffected by the change in speed limits. Cities cannot set the speed limits on state or county roads.
If it is getting to you, consider taking a fast walk. It will lower your tension and let you see the faces of those who are driving slower are protecting. The attitude that others are an impediment to personal freedom is a challenge our society faces today.
I can see going slower on side streets but if we have to go 20 on main, busier streets I will be visiting the cities less and less. Most if not all city streets have sidewalks,
why don’t pedestrians use them? The city of Mpls does seem to make it harder to travel by car, forgetting that MN is a frozen nightmare 4-5 months a year. Two winters ago we had a WEEK or more of -20 to -30 temps.
The rule is 20mph on side streets and 25 mph on arterials, as the article says. And I don’t know what you mean about sidewalks: people have to cross the street in the roadway, so it helps if drivers are going slower and can see that the pedestrians — who have the right of way at every intersection, whether marked with a painted crosswalk or not by law — are in the roadway at that time.
For those of us living in these cities, it’s a welcome move. Commuters do not care about speed limits or about sharing the road, which makes getting around during rush hour dangerous enough in a car. On a bike or on foot, it can be deadly. I live on/near some of south Minneapolis’s arterial roads, and they are simply not safe for pedestrians to cross at anything less than a jogging pace. My elderly neighbors, and neighbors’ kids, shouldn’t have to risk their lives crossing the street so some rando who doesn’t even live here can pass through a little faster. Stay on the freeways if you need to go that fast.
I see posts complaining about the bike lanes, but they are coming at it from the wrong angle. If drivers were more considerate and courteous, the bike lanes wouldn’t be necessary. They are there because you all could not behave yourselves and share the road. Now if the city actually enforced keeping them clear…! They seem to have become the guaranteed free space for every delivery vehicle in town.
I don’t dispute the rationale, but these will be among the most ignored speed limits in the world. The speed limit around the parkways has been 25 for decades… have you ever driven around Lake of the Isles? Now you think people will go even slower? Whatever. Maybe the cities will make some decent ka-ching from the speeding tickets.
As noted above, can’t even get folks to slow to 25 and stop at stop signs, etc. etc. much less 20, and who pray tell is going to give them a speeding ticket, the already under staffed Mpls Police, or perhaps the the re-imagined folks that will track these folks down on bicycles and have therapeutic conversations on proper driving habits?
So, neither city has enough police to protect its own citizens from killing each other, yet their leaders feel they can enforce a 20 mph speed limit. Makes one wonder from what planet these leaders govern.
Come to think of it, do MPLS or St. Paul cops even have radars? I don’t remember ever seeing MPLS cops enforcing speed limits. Out in the burbs I think speed traps are 50% of a patrols activity, they sit on the hi-ways and bi-ways all day zapping speeders but MPLS? And by the way, I don’t think the radars even capable of legally distinguishing speeds much over 10 mph anyways so I don’t how technically enforceable this is going to be.
Will Park Ave in Mlps be 20mph? Around 3500 Park…cars are going closer to 40 than 20. Have never seen Police there. If they did, they be ticketing all day long.
Roger – Park Avenue is County Road 33. It is a county and not a city street. Hennepin County, not the City of Minneapolis, is responsible for setting the limits on county roads. The new Minneapolis limits do not apply to state and county roads. That’s important to remember if you see vehicles travelling at higher speeds on main arterials – many of them are not under city jurisdiction.
There will be a trade-off. Fewer accidents, but more carjackings.
What?
Well, you see, carjackings rarely take place on the interstate because the everyone is driving about 65 mph, which makes it very dangerous. Vehicles traveling at slower speeds reduce the risk of severe injury, which makes them more apt to be carjacked.
I know the mods here probably won’t allow this, so I’ll have to be very careful here. With all due respect, when I read that, I hear an echo of the late, great Dark Star telling a caller, well, I need to paraphrase here, but, that’s the…um…least intelligent thing I’ve heard all day & I’ve been up since 5 o’clock.
Seriously.
The Minneapolis Police don’t enforce speed laws anyway. I live on Park Ave., in the 40s. I routinely, as in many times an hour, see people driving over 50 mph. In a dozen years living at this address, I’ve never seen a speeder pulled over.
When the 35W reconstruction project began, speeding and traffic volume on north/south streets skyrocketed. We had community meetings at MLK Park, facilitated by our Council Rep. Andrea Jenkins, and the MPD 3rd Precinct commander told us MPD wouldn’t enforce speeds or traffic laws; telling us to tell Councillor Jenkins, who was standing right there, to get more money for the police if we wanted traffic enforcement.
20 is indeed plenty. 30 is the posted on arterials like Park and Portland, and if you drive 30, you’ll get honked at and passed. By cops, too.