Nighttime 55 mph speed limit permanent for Swan Hwy

The Montana Transportation Commission unanimously approved a permanent 55 mph nighttime speed limit on Montana Highway 83 last week.

The vote was 5-0, commission secretary Lori Ryan said.

“They listened to the presentation of the speed study and looked at comments and concerns of the public,” she said.

There was conflicting information on whether the interim speed limit did any good, but the commission decided to go with the public’s wishes on the issue.

Jay Kolbe, a wildlife biologist with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, spoke in favor of making 55 mph permanent, Ryan said.

55 mph was established as an interim speed limit on the highway in 2009. The highway, which is well known for deer, stretches from Bigfork to Highway 200 northeast of Missoula.

Voluntary compliance with the nighttime speed limit from 2009 to 2012 was minimal, according to a report from Danielle Bolan, MDOT traffic operations engineer. That information was based on automated traffic counters that recorded travel speed in 2009 and 2012. That information didn’t dissuade the commission, however.

The number of crashes on the highway totaled 194 from 2009 to 2012. That was down from 231 crashes that occurred from 2005 to 2007, according to MDOT’s Chief Operations Officer Dwane Kelley.

Of the 194 crashes that occured from 2009 to 2012, 54 were at night, which represented 27.8 percent of the crashes. This figure was five percent less than the statewide average of rural nighttime crashes.

Condon resident Jim Quinn said that the interim nighttime speed limit resulted in reduced car/deer collisions.

Ryan said the permanent order will only be revisited if a local government, such as Flathead, Lake or Missoula counties, requests it.