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City lowers speed limit on Chadwick Avenue

The City Council voted Thursday to lower the speed limit on Chadwick Avenue to 25 mph. [LIGHTNING FILE PHOTO]

By Lightning Reports, Published: April 1, 2021

Motorists taking a shortcut between Greenville and Spartanburg highways better slow down.

The Hendersonville City Council on Thursday lowered the speed limit on Chadwick Avenue from 35 to 25 mph. The council's action came six months after a property owner's request for permission to build three homes on a lot on the street focused attention on the traffic. Council members had directed staff to look into lowering the speed limit after neighbors raised concerns.

A formal document supporting the speed reduction said that because it connects two major thoroughfares Chadwick is often used as a cut-through. The street is "very narrow with limited roadway shoulders" that prevent vehicles from moving out of the way of emergency traffic. The speed limit citywide is 35 mph unless otherwise posted; however there is a 20 mph warning sign on a sharp curve on Chadwick.

"Could we do some really heavy patrolling?" council member Jeff Miller asked. "I don't mean writing everybody a ticket, maybe having the flashing signs up there."

Typically when the city lowers a speed limit "we increase enforcement for a period of time, giving warning tickets," City Manager John Connet said. "That's how we've done it in the past."

"You would certainly want to educate drivers" about the new speed limit, Police Chief Blair Myland said. "There are speed signs that we can put up. We could certainly have some social media and different things like that but some electronic signs would help make folks aware."