County speeding

The speed limit on county roads in Cape Girardeau County -- and most other counties in Missouri -- is 60 mph. Some first-class counties have adopted ordinances that establish lower speed limits. Now Cape Girardeau County is considering reduced speed limits on two busy county roads: County Road 205, better known as Bloomfield Road, and Singing Hills Drive.

Bloomfield Road is already posted at 35 mph, and Singing Hills Drive is posted at 25 mph. But the county has never adopted a speed-limit ordinance, which means the lower limits cannot be enforced.

The county commission has scheduled three public hearings on the proposed speed-limit reductions: 6 p.m. March 15 at the commission chambers in Jackson, 10 a.m. March 16 at the Cape Special Road District offices, 120 Warson St. in Cape Girardeau (off Route W near the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri animal shelter) and 10 a.m. March 18 at the commission chambers.

Because of the default speed limit for county roads in Missouri, some gravel county roads have higher speed limits that every state highway in the county except Interstate 55. Such high speeds are unsafe along many stretches of county roads. Perhaps these hearings are a first step toward addressing speed limits in general.