Sixth Street motorists, your speeding may pay off.

The Kansas Department of Transportation has given the city permission to raise the speed limit on the newly constructed portion of Sixth Street that is west of Wakarusa Drive from 40 mph to 45 mph.

And it’s done so, in part, because a new state study showed that few people actually were obeying the 40 mph speed limit, which has drawn scorn from several area drivers and produced hundreds of city-issued speeding tickets.

“We knew that several months ago there was some concern that the speed limit was too low,” said Joe Blubaugh, a public affairs manager for KDOT. “We decided we wanted to do a speed study, because that is our pretty normal procedure when we start hearing concerns. The study supported that a 45 mile per hour speed limit would be very logical for that stretch of road.”

City leaders now must pass an ordinance to allow the speed limit to be raised on the road, which also serves as U.S. Highway 40. The Traffic Safety Commission is scheduled to discuss an ordinance at 7:30 p.m. Monday. City commissioners then would have to approve it. The speed limit could be changed in a few weeks after approval from the City Commission.

The speed limit has been increased from 40 mph to 45 mph along Sixth Street from K-10 to Wakarusa Dr.

When KDOT workers measured speeds on the road, they found that the 85th percentile speed – the speed at which 85 percent of drivers are driving at or below – was 49 mph.

Blubaugh said KDOT likes to place speed limits at or near the 85th percentile because traffic engineers consider that the speed many drivers feel most comfortable.

“What we want to do is have the speed limit of the road accurately reflect the speed that people are actually driving on that road,” Blubaugh said.

If a road’s speed limit is artificially low, it could lead to more rear-end accidents or cause problems as motorists cross the road because they may think they have more time than they actually do.

Residents in the area said it was obvious to them that a boost in the speed limit was warranted.

“I think it sure ought to be 45 miles per hour. After all, it is a wide-open area,” said Clyde Miller, who lives near the new four-lane road.

Miller said the area at one time was a hotbed for police patrols who would catch motorists who were surprised the road had only a 40 mph speed limit – especially given that on the east side of Wakarusa Drive to Monterey Way, Sixth Street has a 45 mph speed limit despite being narrower and more heavily developed.

The speed limit has been increased from 40 mph to 45 mph along Sixth Street from K-10 to Wakarusa Dr.

“We would have three cops out here at a time on some days,” Miller said.

The Journal-World previously reported that the city on that stretch of road had issued about 350 tickets during some months. Lawrence Police officials said they had been asked by KDOT to help control speeds in the area, particularly while parts of the road were under construction.

Originally, KDOT determined the road should be posted at 40 mph, but that determination was based only on design issues, not an actual speed study, Blubaugh said.

He said the speed limit on the road likely would be reviewed every five years when the state looks at every section of state highway in Douglas County.