Speed Limit Change for Sharp Curve on Casper’s Coffman Avenue

At the City of Casper's next council meeting, a work session, they are prepared to move forward with an ordinance change that reduces the speed limit from 30 MPH to 25 MPH on Coffman Avenue, beginning with the intersection of Grandview Place and South Coffman Avenue, and continuing to the intersection of Sage Avenue and West Coffman Avenue.

On January 16, during the regular City Council meeting, Ross Schriftman spoke to the council about perceived traffic hazards in that area.

In response, the Casper Police Department researched five years of traffic crashes on Coffman Avenue and found that there were 75 crashes, four involving injuries, from 2018 to 2022.

Of the 75 crashes, 42 involved a parked vehicle, six involved a fence, pole, or median, and 26 involved another vehicle.

The annual average for the entire length of Coffman Avenue is about 15 each year.

In a memo to Council, Chief of Police Keith McPheeters wrote that this many crashes into parked vehicles is unusually high and warrants the need for change.

The most frequently cited cause for the violations is driving too fast for snowy, icy weather.

Within this short, 200-yard section of roadway is a sharp corner with limited visibility. The study shows that 15 parked cars were hit during that five-year window -- 11 happened within 160 feet of one another.

McPheeters concludes that from Grandview Place and South Coffman Avenue to the intersection of Sage Avenue and West Coffman would likely benefit from a reduced speed limit.

Further, last month caution signs indicating "Sharp Curves Ahead" were installed at the sharp the location on Coffman from Grandview Place to Hyview Drive.

If the signs fail to reduce non-roadway object crashes, they may be changed to illuminated, flashing, caution signs. And if the reduced speed limit fails to show improvements, additional actions, though not listed at this time, may be taken down the road.