Cemetery Road, which was unposted in the past, will now have a speed limit of 40 mph.Unposted roads have a de facto speed limit of 55 mph.
The Paynesville Township Board of Supervisors, following a public hearing on Monday, Nov. 13, designated Cemetery Road as a rustic road and set a speed limit.
The rustic road designation - given to scenic township roads that due to the terrain might not have the most modern specifications - allows the township to lower the speed limit. The maximum speed on a rustic road is 45 mph, which was the recommendation before the public hearing.
The board opted to lower the speed limit further to 40 mph.
Pat Meagher, a township resident who lives on the road, doubted that drivers could safely negotiate the sharp S-curve in that road at 45 mph. "I don't think you can make those curves at 45," he said.
A slower speed should make the road, which has no shoulder, safer for bikers and walkers.
A slower speed was also deemed appropriate so drivers unfamiliar to the road don't take the curve at an unmanageable speed.
Cemetery Road runs west from the city of Paynesville past the airport and the Paynesville Cemetery.
The township also considered raising the speed on part of Crest Ridge Road, which runs on the west side of Lake Koronis, but opted to keep the speed limit at 30 mph.
The proposal at the public hearing was to leave the majority of the road at 30 mph but raise the speed limit to 40 mph to the west of 300th Avenue, which is the Rollingwood Development. The raised speed limit was recommended in part because drivers coming east, down the hill, have to ride their brakes to stay at 30 mph.
A lower speed was maintained out of concern for pedestrian traffic on the road. With a resort, campground, summer cottages, and year-round residents, the road has a lot of walkers.
Crest Ridge Road has not been posted to the east of County Road 181. Now signs will be erected so a 30 mph speed limit can be enforced.
"Even 30 in there (is) scary," said Dave Corrow, a resident on the road.
Crest Ridge Road had already been designated as a rustic road.