Speed limits on segments of three Methow Valley roads — one in Mazama and two near Carlton — will be reduced as a result of petitions from local residents.
Okanogan County commissioners approved the speed reductions after a public hearing on June 27.
A 35-mile-per-hour (mph) zone will be established on Lost River Road in Mazama, providing a transition between a 25-mph section in front of the Mazama Store and a 50-mph section of road that starts 300 feet west of there.
The change will create a .8-mile transition zone, said Josh Thomson, Okanogan County engineer.
In Carlton, residents petitioned the county to lower the speed limit on Texas Creek Road for .63 mile, to the end of the pavement. The road is currently posted at 50 mph, and will be reduced to 35 mph on that section.
Another petition requested that the speed limit on the Old Carlton Road (known as the Carlton Loop Road) be reduced from 50 mph to 35 mph from Highway 153 to its intersection with Texas Creek Road, a distance of .4 mile.
Thomson said the speed reductions will become effective as soon as new speed limit signs are installed, which is expected to be done by the first week of July.
