Myrtle Beach considers adjusting speed limits on Ocean Boulevard

Myrtle Beach is considering establishing one speed limit for all of Ocean Boulevard.

Speed limits vary along Ocean Boulevard from 25 mph to 40 mph depending upon the part of town.

City Manager John Pedersen said he is hoping to establish some uniformity. City Council last week said staff could move forward with a traffic engineering study to determine a suggestion for the best speed limit.

Assistant City Manager Ron Andrews said he envisions the boulevard having two speed limits – one for residential areas and one for commercial areas.

“We’re going to look at what the current traffic is doing,” he said. “We look at the 85th percentile of the traffic using the road. If most people are traveling 40 miles or less, we’ll probably recommend the speed limit be set at 40 in that area.”

Council members were considering setting a new speed limit during its May 12 meeting, but instead decided to have city staff conduct the study.

“I say we just set the whole speed limit at 25,” Councilwoman Susan Grissom Means said.

But Councilman Mike Lowder said it didn’t make sense to have a 25 mph speed limit on the north end of Myrtle Beach because there were times of the year where there’s no one on that section of Ocean Boulevard.

“The heavier pedestrian and more commercial looking areas … would likely be 25 miles an hour,” Andrews said of what he expects the study to reveal. “And then there would be some other uniform recommended speed in the residential areas.”

Staff is expecting to present its recommendations during the June 9 City Council meeting. Andrews said if there is a change to the speed limit it would go into effect this summer.

This story was originally published May 19, 2015 at 6:44 AM with the headline "Myrtle Beach considers adjusting speed limits on Ocean Boulevard."