City Council rejects proposal to lower city’s speed limit

CHICAGO — The City Council on Wednesday rejected a controversial proposal to lower the city’s speed limit.

Twenty-eight alders voted against the measure; 21 approved.

The proposal aimed to reduce the maximum speed limit on city streets from 30 to 25 miles per hour beginning in January 2026. Additionally, the maximum speed limit in alleys would reduce to 15 miles per hour.

No streets controlled by the state would have been impacted by the change.

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

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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 estimated the speed limit change could cost the city about $2.5 million.