Objection to Reduced Speed Limit on Hwy 281

We, the people of Burnet County and surrounding areas, hereby object to the reduced speed limit of 55 and 65 mph on Highway 281 south of the Marble Falls bridge.

This area is not heavily developed and does not have wandering children as you would find in a residential area. Furthermore, this area has 4 lanes, including a partial turning lane, meaning it was constructed to maintain a moderate level of traffic flow. We the people feel this is an effort to target a large number of drivers and bring more revenue to the City of Marble Falls, ultimately leading to poor public relations for both the enforcement agency and traffic engineering agency.

Reducing the speed limit from 70 mph to 65 mph & 55 mph will cause more congestion on this 3 mile stretch of highway potentially causing more traffic accidents. The majority of drivers tend to travel at safe and reasonable speeds regardless of the posted speed limits and we disagree that this stretch of highway was reduced to be in the "85th percentile, which is the speed where most people are comfortable". Reducing the speed limit may have been more rationale if the City of Marble Falls would correct the signal timing to be more consistent which would assist with the traffic flow by reducing congestion.

Also, we the people would like to take in consideration the new hospital built at the intersection of Highway 71 and Highway 281 just outside the Marble Falls City Limit. Reducing the speed limit and causing more congestion can cause a delay in an emergency which could potentially be life threatening.

We ask that these changes be reviewed and changed to allow for more reasonable driving speeds in this area.