New, lower speed limit will take effect Friday
Clarksville, TN – City of Clarksville says motorists should get prepared for a new 50 mph speed limit on Martin Luther King Parkway/State Route 76 from Exit 11 to Madison Street.
Clarksville Traffic Engineer Chris Cowan said the new speed limit will go into effect at 8:00am on Friday, October 6th, 2017 after all the new signage is in place.
The decision to reduce the speed to 50 mph from 55 mph was made by the Clarksville Street Department in conjunction with the Tennessee Department of Transportation and the Clarksville Police Department.
Cowan said the change is being made to improve safety and traffic flow along the corridor, which is the southern gateway to Clarksville at Interstate 24’s Exit 11. Population growth in and around the South Clarksville area known as Sango has created increased traffic and business activity along the route.
Based on the latest TDOT Road Safety Audit, from 2011 to 2017 this stretch of MLK Parkway/State Route 76 has had 898 total crashes. Of those, 651 included property damage, 213 had non-incapacitating injury, 29 had incapacitating injury and five were fatality crashes.
The Street Department and TDOT have worked to improve MLK Parkway in the past year, including work at these two intersections:
Vaughan Road – A traffic signal was installed along with the addition of turning lanes at Vaughan Road on MLK Parkway/State Route 76. The signal and turning lanes will help handle traffic for a new retail center planned on the southeast corner of the intersection.
Trough Springs Road – Turning lanes were installed at Trough Springs Road and MLK Parkway/SR 76.
“As our community grows, we continue to work with the Department of Transportation to expand the capacity of our roadways and add safety enhancements, such as traffic signals and turn lanes at key intersections,” Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan said. “After significant improvements, we agreed it was time to reset the speed limit along MLK Parkway at 50 mph. Motorists must adjust and observe the reduced speed limits and be careful!”