Seasonal speed limit changes will soon end on highway in Oconto County town of Townsend

A seasonal speed limit on State 32 in the town of Townsend will soon end and become 40 miles per hour year-round.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation says it expects to make the permanent sign changes on Sept. 4.

A segment of the highway that runs about 0.22 miles between just north of East Townsend Dam Road and the intersection of Church Street and Forest Street had a 45 mph "winter" speed limit and a 35 mph "summer" speed limit.

"I think it’s going to be a good thing for consistency," said Monica Zeller, chairperson for the town. "Some people wanted it lower, but I think it is a happy medium that they chose."

The WisDOT cited six reasons to make the change:

• Driver expectations and reducing potential confusion between summer and winter seasons.
• Consistency and repeatability of regulatory speed zones for drivers.
• Regulatory speed zone consistency for law enforcement.
• Promoting voluntary compliance with reasonable regulatory speed limits.
• Citizen complaints about the 45 mph "winter" speed zone.
• New seasonal regulatory speed zones are not longer allowed in Wisconsin.

The WisDOT says data collected along the segment suggests that only 18%, or fewer than one in five drivers, are complying with the posted summer speed limit of 35 mph. They say they expect driver compliance of a 40 mph speed limit to be near 60%.

"When they did the speed study a good percentage were going over 55 through town, so there is speeding issues," Zeller said. "Hopefully this will help."

The speed limit on both sides of Townsend remains 55 mph.

The seasonal speed limits in Townsend began in May 1996.

The state's lone remaining variable speed limit is on State 42 in the Door County community of Ephraim. The DOT says it is reviewing this speed limit, but nothing final has been determined on changing it.

Contact Kevin Dittman at 920-431-8416 or kdittman@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Seasonal speed limit changes will soon end on highway in Oconto County town of Townsend