Supervisors Pen Letter Over Sierra City Speed Limit Changes

SIERRA CITY — Last week, the Sierra County Board of Supervisors discussed a study by the California Department of Transportation that is likely to raise speed limits in Sierra City, particularly on the east side of town. The length of the 25-mile-per-hour zone would be reduced, and the limit would be raised from 35 to 55 miles per hour until after Wild Plum Road. Supervisors unanimously opposed the change, citing heavy pedestrian and bicycle traffic.

The Sierra County Board of Supervisors approved the sending of a letter written by Lee Adams to California Senator Megan Dahle, Assemblywoman Heather Hadwick, Department of Transportation Director Tony Tavares, and California Highway Patrol Commissioner Sean Duryee, urging them to attend a March 4th public hearing on the matter. The following is the letter in its entirety.

Dear Senator Dahle, Assembly Member Hadwick, Director Tavares, and Commissioner Duryee:

The community of Sierra City sits at the base of the majestic Sierra Buttes, and its historic Main Street is today State Route 49 through the entire community. For decades, the speed limits on this state highway through the community begin at 35 MPH, then slows to 25 MPH thru the greater business district of the community, and then again to 35 MPH as you leave the community. At each end of the community, the highway reverts to a prima facie of 55 MPH.

A recent periodic engineering & traffic survey conducted pursuant to section 22354 of the California Vehicle Code proposes to retain the western entry into Sierra City at its current 35 MPH, to shorten the central part of Sierra City zone at the current 25 MPH, and proposes changing the eastern entry into Sierra City from its current 35 MPH limit to a staggering 55 MPH. We might add that this eastern entry roadway into the community is a steep downhill grade, contains curves, trees extremely close to the roadway, non existent shoulders, no pedestrian walkways, and numerous private driveways. We have proactively been working with Caltrans to address the numerous design issues that exasperates safety conditions noted in Sierra City but have been unsuccessful in construction any of the requested improvements. The speed zone change will significantly impact the safety of both drivers and pedestrians in the very remote community.

While we certainly understand the logic behind local roadway speed surveys in California, we are disappointed that Caltrans engineers seem to place no apparent concern or impact to any number of mitigating factors to this stretch of roadway. As mentioned above, a number of residences have driveways that connect to the highway, there are no sidewalks or other pedestrian demarcations on the roadway, shoulders are narrow or non existent, children and pets live adjacent to the highway, and wildlife is abundant within the community. Special events throughout the year use State Route 49 with increased pedestrian traffic as it is Sierra City’s Main Street. The Pacific Crest Trail crosses SR 49 less than 1 mile from Sierra City and this is a main rest stop for the majority of the hikers who enter town via SR49.

At night, lighting is less than desirable on most of the roadway, in the daylight hours the roadway is shaded due to adjacent trees, the east-west layout of the highway gives sunlight glare to drivers at certain times of day, and at 4,500 feet in elevation, Sierra City is subject to frequent periods of ice and snow. There are also no marked crosswalks in the community for pedestrian traffic. There is also little doubt that if marked 55 MPH, many drivers will push that limit to 60-65 MPH as is much driver behavior.

While both the resident state traffic officer and sheriff’s deputies do what they can to slow traffic through periodic enforcement, and the county has made a priority to deploy radar speed limit digital warning signs at both ends of the community, raising this speed limit is unbelievably counter productive to steps that have been taken over the last few decades to make the roadway safe and the highway’s recent safety record shows that. In the memory of those of us living here, we can recall the death of a motorcyclist who traveling west in this area of concern missed the westbound turn at the edge of the community, struck a large tree, and was instantly killed. On the west end of the community, also with no pedestrian walking space, a couple was walking and one in the party was struck in the face by a camper mirror, doing massive trauma to her face and head.

The board of supervisors has already heard great concern from residents of Sierra County, and have set a public hearing on this matter for 1:30 pm on March 4th, 2025, in the board chambers in the Sierra County Courthouse in Downieville.

This letter is to invite your agencies and offices to be present to hear the concern of your constituents. We would especially like the professionals from California’s traffic safety agency, the CHP, to weigh in on the realistic impact of such a change, and hope that Caltrans can understand all the mitigating factors that are not otherwise seen or considered in a mathematical speed survey. If that itself is not enough to keep the present limits in place, then we hope both of our elected representatives will seek a legislative fix to keep Sierra City safe.

If you have any questions, concerns, or comments, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at 530.289.3506 (or supervisor1@sierracounty.ca.gov), Sierra County Director of Transportation Bryan Davey at 530.289.3201 (or bdavey@sierracounty.ca.gov), or District Two Supervisor Lila Heuer who represents Sierra City at 916.580.5608 (or lheuer@sierracounty.ca.gov).

We appreciate this opportunity to comment, and hope to see you or your representatives on March 4th.

Sincerely,

Sierra County

Board of Supervisors