THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 7, 1994 TAG: 9412070432
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Short : 34 lines
The wheels of government move a lot more slowly than the vehicles on Halstead Boulevard, and that's keeping Robert L. Vaughan busy.
Even as the Elizabeth City Council plans to ask the N.C. Department of Transportation to lower the 50 mph speed limit on a stretch of the road, DOT crews have been out putting up more signs advertising the current limit.
Vaughan, retired basketball coach and a faculty member at Elizabeth City State University, asked the council this fall to work on dropping the limit to 45 mph in the Brookridge Terrace area. Most of the area's residents are senior citizens, he said, and there has been a traffic death and five accidents as residents tried to get on or off the five-lane road.
Council members, who went along with DOT's desire to raise the limit several months ago, took up the cause and passed a resolution Monday night asking the state to lower it. But Vaughan, president of the Brookridge Property Owners Association, was back to say they weren't in time to stop DOT officials from placing some 15 new 50 mph signs.
Councilwoman Myrtle Rivers noticed them, too.
``It just hit me, you know, all those signs at once,'' Rivers said Monday, listing all the new postings she counted. ``Anything we could do to speed this up, I'd appreciate it.''
The council's resolution is only a request, City Clerk Dianne Pierce said Tuesday. DOT has authority over the speed limit. by CNB