Mayor Steve Noble has asked the Kingston Common Council to consider lowering the municipal speed limit from 30 mph to 25. The request is the latest effort by the Noble administration to enhance bike and pedestrian safety and encourage less reliance on motorized transportation in the city.

In a statement issued Wednesday, Noble said changes in state law making it easier for municipalities to institute lower speed limits had created an opportunity in Kingston, which experienced a spike in fatal accidents involving cyclists and pedestrians in recent years. In his memo, Noble cited statistics from the Governors Highway Safety Association which showed the lower speed limit would significantly decrease the number of drivers traveling over 33 mph — a threshold where the chance of a pedestrian struck by a vehicle suffering serious injuries jumps to 50 percent compared with 25 percent in a 25-mph collision. Noble added that he had been influenced by feedback from residents at a recent series of ward meetings.

“In the three ward meetings that I’ve had so far, the number one concern has been speeding in neighborhoods,” Noble said. “I want Kingston residents to know that I share this concern. The proposed speed limit reduction is one of many steps we are taking to reduce crashes and increase safety, while working to improve our infrastructure.”

The push for a lower speed limit is in line with an executive order issued in June 2023 embracing the Federal Transportation Administration’s “Safe Systems” traffic safety model. The protocol involves lowering speed limits and redesigning streets and traffic control systems to enhance bike and pedestrian safety as well as collecting data to quantify and improve street safety. The goal of the plan is to eliminate traffic fatalities in the city entirely by 2030. In May, the Common Council, at the urging of Ward 6 Alderman and retired traffic engineer Bob Dennison, formally endorsed the Safe Systems plan.

Since taking office in 2016, Noble has introduced a host of initiatives aimed an moving the city away from its mid-20th-century car-centric streetscape towards one more geared towards walking and non-motorized or public transportation. Street reconstruction projects, like the 2022 redesign of Broadway, are now guided by the state Department of Transportation’s “Complete Streets” protocol, which emphasizes parity between pedestrians, cyclists and drivers in street design. The city has also created a bike and pedestrian safety master plan, enacted a new zoning code that eliminates off-street parking requirements for new residential and commercial projects and is moving ahead with a plan to install automated speed enforcement technology in all school zones.

In addition to safety concerns, the effort to encourage less reliance on private motor vehicles is tied in with the city’s Climate Action Plan which sets aggressive goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade.

Noble’s call for lowering the speed limit comes as the city is participating in Ulster County’s Safe Start to Summer traffic safety campaign. The public awareness campaign aims to promote a “culture of safety” by targeting speeding and distracted driving. As part of the effort, city police have stepped up traffic enforcement on the city’s busiest roadways. Kingston police have also begun a program that uses officers in civilian clothes as decoys to catch and ticket drivers who fail to stop for pedestrians using automated crosswalks along the Broadway Corridor.