Could speeds come down on Bethel Church?

Published On: July 17, 2024By

Bethel Church Road

July 17. By Dave Vieser. The Cornelius Town Board is asking the NC Dept. of Transportation (NCDOT) to reduce the 45 mph speed limit on Bethel Church Road, between West Catawba and Staghorn at the end.

The request will be reviewed and analyzed by the NCDOT.

The town has actually received several requests to lower the speed limit since Bethel Church is primarily a residential street, according to Tyler Beardsley, assistant town manager. It is also “heavily used” by pedestrians and cyclists, he said.

At Monday night’s meeting, members of the town board did not specify what speed limit should be adopted in place of the 45 mph limit. The NCDOT review should take approximately three months.

In other action, the commissioners:

—Amended town regulations regarding membership on boards and commissions, to read as follows: No member having served on the elected Board of Commissioners may be eligible for appointment until there has been a one-year lapse in service from the elected Board of Commissioners. As an example of how this change could impact board membership, if such a regulation was already in effect, former commissioner Colin Furcht would not have been eligible to join the Planning Board this year, having lost re-election this past November,.

—Accepted approximately 20 streets in the Antiquity section of Cornelius for maintenance. These streets were maintained by private contractors for more than 10 years until the town recently agreed to take over maintenance responsibility.

—Ratified a list of park improvement projects to be included in a $20 million bond referendum which will be on the ballot this November in Cornelius.

8 Comments

  1. A concerned resident July 17, 2024 at 12:14 pm

    I’m outraged that we would prioritize human lives over getting to Chick-fil-A 30 seconds faster. Sure, I get it. Safety, blah blah blah. But have you ever craved waffle fries so badly that every second feels like an eternity? Now I have to waste precious minutes of my life driving slower, just because some people can’t figure out how to not walk in front of moving vehicles. Next thing you know, they’ll want us to stop at red lights too! What’s next, mandatory seatbelts? It’s all just a ploy to keep us from living our best, most efficient lives.

  2. Thomas J Rider Jr July 17, 2024 at 12:41 pm

    Maybe your could publish the list, or provide a link to the park enhancements…

    • Newsroom July 17, 2024 at 5:07 pm

      Yes, we’re working on that. It should be tomorrow.

  3. James Simpson July 17, 2024 at 12:44 pm

    Walter Henderson Road off Bethel Church Road recently had it’s speed limit reduced to 25 because of nighttime racing. I’m sure it did not take three months to review.

    The same nighttime action occurs on Bethel Church. How about changing the speed limit to at least 35 similar to the rest of Cornelius?

    • Elaine Russell July 17, 2024 at 4:52 pm

      As well as John Connor Rd. should be 25 mph.
      The houses are even closer to the road. No respect
      being exercised in keeping the vehicles on the roadway.

      I, and plenty of other residents, have had their
      mailboxes knocked down 4-5 times. Residents
      don’t often report. Up and down Connor Road.

      My mailbox was hit last Friday between 3:30-4:00pm.
      DAYLIGHT! Second time in a year!
      Vehicle drove over 50 feet on my grass and barely missed the next neighbor’s box! Safety ? Speeding? Even
      residents are guilty. Did this guilty person stop?! NO

  4. Bicyclist July 17, 2024 at 6:36 pm

    How about enforcing the speed limits already in place?

  5. Randy July 17, 2024 at 6:58 pm

    Not sure changing speed limit will effect the racing???

  6. Bill Freeman July 17, 2024 at 8:57 pm

    Bethel Church Road is a total residential access road. It has a bike lane and pedestrian walk ways. The speed limit is 45 MPH!
    Compare this with Statesville Road off Catawba with an ABC store, NAPA, a motel, and other similar businesses; the speed limit is 35 MPH. Now let’s ask, “Just how much local pedestrian or cycle traffic occurs on this section of road?”
    Why would the speed limit be a very considerable 10 per hour less on this section of Statesville and yet in a highly residential area be more?
    REDUCE THE LIMIT ON BETHEL?” I think that is a sound decision !

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