FAIRBORN — Motorists on Yellow Springs-Fairfield Road in the City of Fairborn will soon be required to travel at a lower speed. Council passed an ordinance July 16 that would reduce the speed limit along the roadway from 50 miles per hour down to 45 miles per hour.
The impacted area is between Roehner Drive and the eastern corporation limit of the city. City Engineer Lee Harris explained during the regular council meeting that construction of a pedestrian pathway is being planned on one side of the roadway which would “hopefully encourage” additional means of transportation to take place in the area such as cycling and walking.
“Thirty-five is our current speed coming into town and at Roehner Drive is where it changes as it goes to 50. Once we reach our corp limit here, it goes up to 55,” Harris said, adding that a number of new subdivisions have gone up in that area in recent years. “This is dropping it because now it’s more of a residential area than it was previously.”
Harris explained to council that reducing the speed limit would create a safer environment in the future as the pathway is being planned.
Fairborn Mayor Paul Keller said lowering the speed limit between Roehner Drive and the eastern corporation limit on Yellow Springs-Fairfield Road has been an item of interest “for some time,” he said. Members of council expressed that passing the ordinance was for safety reasons.
“It’s for the safety of our citizens so it’s all good,” Deputy Mayor Marilyn McCauley said.
