Motorists can drive 45 - on Hwy. 141 in Manchester

Motorists traveling Hwy. 141 still are required to slow down when passing through the city of Manchester after the Manchester Board of Aldermen last month voted against raising the speed limit.

Missouri Rep. Dwight Scharnhorst (R-Dist. 94) and Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) Area Engineer Karen Yeomans had requested that the city raise the speed limit from 45 miles per hour (mph) to 50 mph. The change would bring a stretch of Hwy. 141 between Burgundy Lane and Big Bend Road up to speed with sections of the road that go through neighboring Town & Country and Valley Park. 

Yeomans said MoDOT's and Scharnhorst's intention was to create consistency along Hwy. 141. Manchester and a portion of unincorporated St. Louis County are the only sections still at the 45 mph speed limit.

"Using a national standard on how speed limits are set, we look at what (speed) the 85th percentile of drivers are driving," Yeomans said. "Studies show that the majority of drivers will drive at a speed at which they're comfortable despite what is posted."

The speed study showed that vehicles traveling on that section of Hwy. 141 were traveling approximately 55 mph. MoDOT concluded that 50 mph was the more reasonable choice due to the layout of the road. 

Manchester Police Chief John Connolly is among those who said that driving faster on Hwy. 141 sounds enticing for motorists.

"I think it's just instinctive for drivers to want to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible," Connolly said.

However, Connolly also said his role as police chief means he has to put the safety of drivers first.

"I think we have all gotten into a false sense of what 141 is," Connolly said. "It's not an interstate. Although it is a six-lane highway and a major thoroughfare, it has a lot of traffic signals on it and it has a lot of residential side streets that feed into it at regular intersections."

Hwy. 141 twists around bends and rolls up and down hills through Manchester and includes six intersections. Although MoDOT officials have concluded that accidents have not been an issue in that area, Connolly said he has witnessed a number of near accidents, particularly involving semi-trucks running red lights.

"We're talking about big trucks that might be traveling over the speed limit already and have to stop at a red light at the bottom of a downhill incline," Connolly said. "Sometimes they'll choose to run the red light rather than put on their brakes."

The argument between the city and MoDOT officials is whether the increase to 50 mph would inadvertently cause drivers, who both admit already speed on Hwy. 141, to drive even faster.

"People drive at a rate at which they're comfortable," Yeomans said. "Raising the speed limit is not going to cause people to drive faster."

Connolly said in his experience, it is not uncommon for motorists to drive just under 10 miles over the speed limit.

"People tend to drive the fastest they can where they think they won't get a ticket," Connolly said. "Some nay-sayers might think the police department doesn't want to raise the speed limit so we can enforce the lower speed limit. That's the farthest thing from the truth. We're approaching this strictly from a public safety angle."

Hwy. 141, south of Hwy. 40, has approximately roughly 55,000 cars traveling on it per day. 

This is MoDOT's second attempt to have the limit raised to 50 mph in Manchester. Yeomans said that they will not be making another attempt in the near future.

"We have a difference of opinions, but we will respect Manchester's decision," Yeomans said.