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Kirkwood passes resolution urging St. Louis County to lower Big Bend Road speed limit

The resolution comes after multiple accidents and speeding problems that have plagued the roadway for years.

KIRKWOOD, Mo. — The Kirkwood City Council approved a resolution Thursday requesting the St. Louis County Department of Transportation lower the speed limit on Big Bend Road to 30 mph. 

This comes after multiple accidents and speeding problems that have plagued the roadway for years.

Pete McBrady, who lives near Big Bend Road, said speeding drivers are everywhere.

“Based on the number of accidents on Big Bend and Geyer it's probably getting out of hand,” McBrady said.

Currently, on Big Bend Road the speed limit ranges from 30 to 40 mph.

McBrady said the proposed speed limit reduction to 30 mph between Interstate 270 and the city limits of Kirkwood needs to go hand in hand with enforcement.

”If you gave people tickets, at some point, there needs to be an extra penalty. I mean, if you're consistently caught speeding there'd need to be some greater impact on your license,” McBrady said.

Michael Carmody with Safer Streets for Kirkwood and St. Louis County said for seven years they've been trying to get city and county leaders to take action and make Big Bend Road safer.

“We have data from a recent Johns Hopkins study that shows 30 (mph) alone is not going to help it. The minimum that they should be doing is taking it down to 25 mph, narrowing the lanes to 10 feet. And then ideally, a road diet,” Carmody said.

Carmody said half of the cars in the speed study were going more than 45 mph.

Kids won't even walk to school because they feel unsafe.

“If you look at that corridor, there is no buffer to the sidewalk. So you're literally inches away from cars doing 50 to 55 mph,” Carmody said.

The City Council and Mayor Liz Gibbons hope the resolution will carry more weight in urging the St. Louis County Department of Transportation to take action as their past efforts as recently as April 2023 haven't worked.

“I'm hoping that we can keep pressing St. Louis County to work with us to get additional safety measures in place,” Kirkwood City Councilwoman Nancy Luetzow said.

The Kirkwood City Council hopes eventually the county will lower the speed limit for all of Big Bend Road.

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