Speed limits placed on county roads

By Melinda L. Lucas

Shackelford County commissioners worked through a typical agenda during their regular meeting on Monday, April 13, most of which had little or nothing to do with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The locked doors of the Courthouse and social distancing of elected officials along an extended conference table were the only signs of COVID-19 restrictions.

Speed Limit Signs

County judge Robert Skelton stated that since some of the commissioners had expressed concern about high speeds on county roads, he had researched how to put laws into place.

“Commissioners  can regulate speeds on county roads, but the signs have to be approved in county meetings, and they have to be in place before the speed limits can be enforced,” explained Skelton. “There also has to be a public hearing.”

He suggested setting the hearing date for May 11  and running a notice in the April 30 paper.

Precinct 3 commissioner Lanham Martin suggested that most county roads be posted with 40 MPH, dropping to 30 MPH in residential areas.

The commissioners discussed setting a speed limit of 25 MPH on Griffin Road near the baseball parks. However, traffic and engineering studies have to be conducted in order to set speeds below 30 MPH, so no decision was made about a lower limit.

“It’s going to take some time and money,” said Martin. “We’ll have to prioritize and post signs in higher traffic and more hazardous areas first.”

A motion passed to set speed limits on all county roads, but there were no speeds specified.

 Parking Lot

Skelton informed the commissioners that the newly estimated cost of rebuilding the Courthouse parking lot and constructing a handicap ramp for the JP building is $90,000 to $95,000 for the parking lot and $20,000 to $25,000 for the ramp, about twice the amount included in the current budget.

A large amount of the additional cost is for engineering and design fees.

Karl Komatsu of Komatsu Architects offered to continue negotiations with the Texas Historical Commission at no charge as his contribution to the project, Skelton said.

The judge presented several options to the court, one of which was dropping both projects, but the commissioners decided to table action until the next meeting.

Other Business

•The commissioners voted to move forward with applications for TxDOT’s County Transportation Infrastructure Funds.

•Sheriff Ed Miller reported that his department’s two new pickups have been delivered, but are awaiting brackets and camera installation, as well as transfer of other pieces of equipment.