CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio — There’s a new plan to address speeding across select neighborhoods in Cleveland Heights.
“Being that there are so many pedestrians and dogs and walkers, it’s a little alarming to see someone going 40 miles per hour when it should be lower than 25,” said Cleveland resident Jeanne Petre.
As an avid neighborhood walker and mother, Petre tells me she’s concerned for her and her family’s safety.
“There’s just a lot of action and our kids can be going to the playground and the cars are going too fast, so it’s something that’s definitely alarming,” said Petre.
But Petre remains hopeful the city’s newest ordinance to lower the speed limit on targeted streets running through residential neighborhoods will help.
“Our initial initiative here is to lower those speed limits on those selected streets from 35 down to 25 to keep our residents a little bit safer,” said Cleveland Heights Mayor Kahlil Seren.
The Mayor says he’s received numerous reports from residents involving speeding.
Now, Seren hopes this initiative, which he says is the first of many, will create an even safer community.
“We’re looking at environmental and physical infrastructure changes that we can make whether it’s speed tables, raised crosswalks, street narrowing – those sorts of physical changes we can make in the driver’s environment that will lead to a natural decrease in speed and more careful driving,” said Seren.
The new initiative will impact these five street sections:
- Euclid Heights Boulevard from Coventry Road to South Taylor Road
- Lee Road in its entirety
- Noble Road, north of Monticello Boulevard
- North Taylor Road, north of Monticello Boulevard
- South Taylor Road between Fairmount Boulevard and Euclid Heights Boulevard.
You may recall our previous coverage at South Taylor Road and Fairmount last November when a driver smashed into this home during a high-speed police chase.
Then a crash happened again back in July, leading to even more damage.
The mayor says these events are unfortunate for this homeowner, but he says his plan addresses daily speeding occurrences versus out-of-control drivers.
“It’s important for us to create an everyday environment, not just plan for those specific occurrences where somebody is reckless driving, but in our everyday lives, we need to make the roads safer,” said Seren.
Regardless, Cleveland Heights residents like David Mahoney say it’s a step in the right direction.
“People take it for granted whatever the speed limit, and it’s there for a reason, by and large,” said Mahoney.
The resolution is expected to go into effect around Dec. 21.
Watch live and local news any time:
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
