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3.6 Roadways

3.6C Design speed

Speed limit sign

Supporting safe traffic speeds is an essential aspect of Minneapolis Vision Zero work to eliminate traffic deaths and severe injuries.

Introduction

Supporting safe traffic speeds is an essential aspect of Minneapolis Vision Zero work to eliminate traffic deaths and severe injuries. Design speeds should align with a safe and reasonable target speed for the roadway context and use.

Design speeds should also ideally align with speed limits. Speed limits on City-owned streets were lowered in 2020 to support safety and the design speed on City streets aligns with those speed limits. Speed limits on County and MnDOT roads are often higher than the recommended design speeds shown in Figure 3.6C.1, which reflects the City’s interest in seeing lower speed limits on many County and MnDOT roads.

Figure 3.6C.1:
Recommended typical design speeds by Street Types (MPH)

Street type Typical design speeds  

Urban Neighborhood

20

Urban Neighborhood Connector

25

Production and Processing

201

Mixed Use Community Connector

25

Mixed Use Commercial Connector

25

Mixed Use Regional Connector

30-402

Downtown Core

25

Parkway

20-253
  1. Large trucks are frequent on Production and Processing streets and need to be considered when designing elements to support 20 mph speeds.
  2. When there is pedestrian access or property access adjacent to the road, a maximum of 35 mph design speed should be used. 
  3. Parkways currently have 25 mph speed limits, but 20 mph design speeds may be appropriate for some parkways if the Park Board would like to lower the speed limit.

Design speed Considerations

Recommended design speeds
  1. Recommended design speeds in Figure 3.6C.1 only to apply to design factors that impact vehicle speed (e.g. horizontal curves). Design factors that do not directly impact vehicle speed (e.g. stormwater spread calculations and street lighting calculations) do not need to be updated.
  2. In some cases, a different design speed than the typical may be appropriate. 
    • Design speeds on individual streets should generally match the planned speed limit after construction. 
    • Lower design speeds and posted speed limits may be considered for Urban Neighborhood streets with neighborhood greenways. 

State Aid rules

The State Aid rules allow 25 mph design speed for streets with a bikeway and less than 10,000 average daily traffic, but require 30 mph design speed for other streets. Designers should strongly consider applying for a variance for design speed if it will have a meaningful impact on traffic calming and safety; a variance application may or may not be accepted