LAKEWOOD, Ohio — Things are moving more slowly along Lake Avenue from Cleveland into Lakewood after the city reduced the speed limit in December 2025.
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Lakewood Councilman Tom Bullock said the process to get there was too costly and too slow.
"We were able to reduce this," he said. "But, it took too long, it took too much effort, too much cost, and even then the effect was watered down."
Bullock said the process took about a year to complete.
He said the personnel time to collect data, including completing a speed study, cost the city an estimated $150,000.
"The part that's challenging is that we did all of that due diligence, and we still had to go through the state, and they could've vetoed us," he said.
Those expenses and the uncertainty are why Angie Schmitt, with the Ohioans for Safe Streets Coalition, is advocating for changes to state laws.
"It doesn't allow residents and community leaders very much say in what the speed limit should be," Schmitt said. "ODOT and the passage of state law are really mostly the deciders."
According to the Ohio Revised Code, speed limits are determined by the features of the road.
The code doesn't account for what's around the road, such as homes and schools. That's where Schmitt said the code needs to change.
"The problem is they don't really account well for what is happening around the street," she said. "Is the street residential? Does it have a school next to it?"
Matt Bruning, press secretary with the Ohio Department of Transportation, said there is a reason behind that.
"We have to journalize the speeds that are eventually reached on this and make sure it is a legal speed and so it can be enforced," he said.
Bruning said changes have been made to the speed study process recently. He said speeds used to be based on how fast most drivers were already going, but now they're set closer to the middle of the pack. Bruning also said ODOT can create corridors with lower speed limits.
"We want to make sure that people are driving the appropriate speed for the roads that they are on," he said. "We want to make sure there is some consistency on how those speeds are set."
Schmitt said changing the speed limit process could make roads safer and reduce crashes.
"We're trying to make our communities just a little bit better, a little bit healthier," she said. "This is just one tool, but it's a really important one."
