Manassas Park raises speed limit on Manassas Drive
The City Council voted 6-0 Tuesday night to raise the speed limit from 25 to 35 mph along a stretch of Manassas Drive, running from Euclid Avenue to the city’s Virginia Railway Express station.
Mayor William J. Treuting Jr. mentioned how the council had refrained from doing this in the past because of the children studying at Conner Elementary School. But now, the school is gone.
“I think most people are tired of riding their breaks, as I am, on Manassas Drive,” he said.
Councilman William Wren believed a higher speed limit would lighten the workload of the police department, freeing it up for more important tasks.
“It’s a difficult area to enforce the speed limit.
The new speed limit will take effect as soon as new signs are installed along the street, said City Manager David Reynal.
A month ago, Reynal warned that raising the speed limit on the street might stretch it to the limit of what it was designed for.
Also Tuesday, Fran Kassinger, a former member of the council, criticized the governing body for failing to conduct itself properly.
She mentioned a Sept. 17 meeting, in which council members allowed Belmont Station residents to raise their voices at city staff for minutes on end. Some of the neighborhood residents even called for the removal of Reynal and Planning Director Dan Painter.
Kassinger mentioned a comment she had heard that Manassas Park was becoming a “social experiment that is failing.”
“It’s a sad state. But I think it’s true. There’s low morale here,” she said after leaving the meeting.