The City of Jacksonville is committed to ensuring our community is safe and enjoyable for our children, families, and community members. One way we’re working towards a safer city is our 20 is Plenty program, centered on the idea that a speed limit of 20 mph is appropriate for local, residential streets. The purpose of the program is to increase the safety of pedestrians, bicyclists, and motor vehicles on local streets. The 20 is Plenty program is specifically focused on reducing speeds on local streets in neighborhoods and not larger streets that carry higher volumes of traffic.
According to the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), addressing speed is fundamental to making streets safer. In 2020, NACTO published City Limits – Setting Safe Speed Limits on Urban Streets, which noted that speed limit reduction efforts have historically used existing speeds on a street to determine what the speed limit should be. This practice uses current driver behavior to set the speed limit rather than allowing engineers, planners, and citizens to set a limit that will create the best, safest conditions for all road users.
Jacksonville’s 20 is Plenty initiative intends to use the Safe System approach to reduce traffic fatalities and injuries and is in line with recommendations from NACTO. Implementation of this program can have positive, wide-reaching impact on communities across Jacksonville. Along with many of our local elected leaders, we believe that reducing speeds in residential areas will result in a higher quality of life not only for our school-aged children but for all residents of the city by improving safety for all modes – vehicular, pedestrian, and bicycle – and will reduce the loss of life.
The first step the City of Jacksonville is taking to improve the quality of life for those in the River City is to conduct a Citywide Residential Speed Limit Reduction Study. You can participate in the study by taking the survey here.