20 MPH Speed Limits Coming To Many Falls Church Residential Streets

FALLS CHURCH, VA — After Falls Church City Council approved lowering the speed limit on many residential streets, the new 20 mph speed limit will soon be in place.

The City of Falls Church announced the reduced speed limit for many streets will start to take effect in October. Over 100 speed limit signs are being installed and will take several weeks to complete, dependent on weather. The 20 mph speed limit signs will take effect once they are installed.

The change will apply to neighborhood residential streets. That does not include main routes like Broad and Washington Streets and collector streets such as West Street, Lincoln Avenue, Hillwood Avenue, Great Falls and Park Avenue. A map of impacted streets (zone 3) is available here.

State legislation provides authority for localities to lower speed limits below 25 mph but not below 15 mph. The city government said reducing the speed limits improves crash outcomes for pedestrians and improves field of vision for drivers to see and react to people in the road.

The neighborhood residential streets' design supports a lower speed limit, City Manager Wyatt Shields told City Council before the approval. For speed limits to be reduced on Broad and Washington Streets, the city believes major changes and more police enforcement would be needed for drivers to obey a lower speed limit, and VDOT approval may be required. For a lower speed limit on collector streets, the city believes the streets would need to be widened, get geometric changes and have more police enforcement.

The city launched an educational campaign called 20 is Plenty to inform the public on the lower speed limit.