Fiscal Court Talks Speeding And Signs
File Photo: Kentucky State Seal in the courtroom at Mercer County Fiscal Courthouse.
Robert Moore
Herald Staff
rmoore@harrodsburgherald.com
The Mercer County Fiscal Court is looking at improving road signage throughout the county, including speed limit signs. The topic of speeding came up at the fiscal court’s regular meeting on Tuesday, July 11, when Magistrate Tim Darland asked Sheriff Ernie Kelty if speeding was worse on local roads.
Kelty said there were more homes and subdivisions, which meant more traffic.
“And with that comes more traffic issues,” Kelty said. While traffic is up, many roads in the county are not big enough for a center line. While he and his deputies try to make their presence known in the community, there are only a handful of deputies.
“Lots of times we have one deputy on duty,” Kelty said. “It’s hard for us to sit in any one general area for any one time.”
One thing they’ve looked at is lowering speed limits.
“It’s very complicated,” said Kelty. Reducing speed limits involves getting into legal definitions of what constitutes a densely populate area and what doesn’t.
“We get into a lot of technical terms,” Kelty said. “We try to do the best we can with what we have.”
County officials say it could cost more than $30,000 to put signs on every county road. Judge-Executive Sarah Steele said the county is working with state.
The fiscal court took no action.
