20 is Plenty
Slower Speed. Safer Streets
In August 2022, City Council passed Ordinance No. 28825, which lowers the default speed limit on residential streets from 25 miles per hour (MPH) to 20 MPH. This ordinance also lowers the speed limit from 30 MPH to 25 MPH on arterial streets in four Neighborhood Business Districts, including 6th Avenue, Lincoln, McKinley Hill, and Old Town. Proctor and Sound Tacoma are already 25 MPH.
The new speed limits went into effect January 1, 2023. With this, Tacoma joins numerous cities in the United States and around the world that have chosen to reevaluate and lower local speed limits in an effort to eliminate serious traffic crashes, encourage active transportation use, support sustainability, and make their communities safer.
20 MPH yard signs are available! Help bring awareness to the new 20 MPH speed limit on residential streets by placing a yard sign in your front yard. Yard signs can be picked up at the Tacoma Municipal Building, Customer Service Center, at 747 Market Street. Yard signs will also be available at select City-sponsored events around the city.
Tacoma’s Speed Limits Map-
In February 2020, the Tacoma City Council adopted Resolution No. 40559, committing to Vision Zero and the goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2035. Contained within Resolution No. 40559 was the direction to complete a study on the “State of Speed and Safety in Tacoma” and include consideration of a default speed limit of 25 MPH on arterials and 20 MPH on residential streets.
A key component of the Safe Systems approach under Vision Zero is Safe Speeds. In locations where pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers are regularly mixing, a maximum speed limit of 20 MPH is ideal. The link between speed and injury severity in crashes is consistent, direct, and especially critical for more vulnerable roadway users. Lower speeds improve visibility, provide additional time for drivers to stop, and reduce the potential for fatal or severe injuries by lowering impact forces. People who are walking are twice as likely to live after being hit by a car at 25 MPH than at 30 MPH.
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A lower residential speed limit will support Tacoma’s Safe Routes to School program by providing a safer environment for students to walk and roll to school. Speed limits are already 20 MPH on streets immediately adjacent to schools or at specific school crossings. The residential speed limit change will make it so all neighborhood walking routes to school have a speed limit of 20 MPH.
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The Vision Zero crash safety analysis found the majority of fatalities and serious injury crashes are occurring on arterial streets, making these streets a main focus for future Vision Zero efforts. To lower speeds on most arterial streets, more is needed to change driver behavior than simply lowering the speed limit and changing signs. Infrastructure changes are often needed to lower driver speeds and to make the street safe for all users.
Read the Speed Limit Reduction Factsheet