With county support, the speed limit on a section of Bear Tavern Road will reduce from 45 to 35 miles per hour.
The Mercer County Board of Commissioners adopted an ordinance that lowers the speed from 1,000 feet north of Maddock Road to Washington Crossing-Pennington Road [County Route 546] at a meeting on Feb. 9.
“Our residents have been asking the County to lower the speed limit for years,” Hopewell Township Mayor Michael Ruger said.
Additionally, the ordinance reduces the speed limit from 30 miles per hour (mph) to 25 mph when vehicles pass through the Bear Tavern Elementary School zone when children are going to or leaving school during opening or closing hours, and during recess.
“Now, thanks to continued work by the Hopewell Township Committee and the Mercer County Board of County Commissioners, with our own Commissioner Kristin McLaughlin moving the introduction of the ordinance, we are finally close to getting it done,” Ruger said.
He also thanked the County staff for working with the Township Committee on this issue.
Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes had presented the Board of County Commissioners with the ordinance in response to a Hopewell Township request to amend the speed limits.
Mercer County’s traffic and planning consultant had reviewed the portion of Bear Tavern Road for the lowering of the speed limits, according to Hughes.
“Mercer County had looked at reducing the speed limit in front of the school to 25 mph a number of years ago, but a thorough review by our traffic engineer determined that it didn’t meet the necessary criteria,” Hughes said.
“Recent guidance permits County engineers to consider other conditions as contributing factors, and I thank our Engineering Division for working with township and school officials to move this forward.”