Months after approval, and just one week after another wreck, the speed limit through Blue River is officially 45 miles per hour.
The town installed new speed limit signs this week. It was previously 50 miles per hour.
Also new are “no passing” signs on Highway 9 through town limits. The speed on either side of Blue River remains 50 miles per hour, before slowing down at Breckenridge town limits to the north and Hoosier Pass switchbacks to the south.
Blue River town manager Michelle Eddy tells Krystal 93 this has been a long time coming.
“CDOT let us know in March they are lowering the speed limit through Blue River to 45,” Eddy says.
On Sept. 18 two people were hospitalized when two vehicles smashed into each other just outside of town hall. In the past five years at three people have been killed and multiple others injured on this stretch, where dozens of driveways pour out directly onto the highway.
And then, there are the animals.
“The section of Highway 9 through the town of Blue River has also experienced a spike in animal strikes involving bear, moose and deer,” Eddy says. “The police department is hopeful the planned reduced speed limit reduces the number of crashes and the severity.”