City Council may consider proposal to lower city’s speed limit to 25 mph on Wednesday

CHICAGO — The City Council may consider a controversial proposal to lower the city’s speed limit on Wednesday, in addition to considering two multimillion-dollar settlements and a plan to borrow $830 million for maintenance and infrastructure projects.

If the speed limit measure is passed, the maximum speed limit on city streets would be reduced from 30 to 25 miles per hour. It would take effect in January 2026. Additionally, the maximum speed limit in alleys would be 15 miles per hour.

No streets controlled by the state would be impacted by this change.

The speed limit measure, introduced by Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st Ward) in July with the backing of transit and biking advocates, stems from the city’s 2017 “Vision Zero” plan to eliminate traffic deaths by 2026. Advocates say the measure would decrease traffic deaths.

The city’s Council on Pedestrian and Safety Traffic, which La Spata chairs, passed the measure via 8-5 vote in October, sending it to the full City Council. A vote was scheduled for January, but alders elected to postpone it.

The Chicago Department of Transportation estimates the speed limit change could cost the city about $2.5 million.