Monessen cuts speed limit on 3 city streets

Montraver Drive, Huston Street and Court Avenue are all reduced to 15 mph.

Speed limits are dropping, stop signs are going up and several Monessen streets are shifting to one-way traffic after council passed a sweeping traffic ordinance Thursday.

Ordinance 1276 amends five sections of Chapter 365 of the city’s code.

The most immediate and visible change will be slower traffic on three residential streets.

The posted speed limit on Montraver Drive, Huston Street and Court Avenue will drop from 25 miles per hour to 15.

According to the ordinance, the city “determined that it is in the best interests of the health, safety and welfare of its residents” to impose the new limit along the full length of each street.

Mayor Ron Mozer said the reductions are necessary to ensure safety.

“The speed limits reducing from 25 to 15 on streets that are very narrow or have a lot of cars parked on both sides — we have some vehicles moving through quickly, which is a problem,” Mozer said. “That is the primary reason.”

The ordinance also establishes new one-way traffic designations for those same streets. Huston Street will become one-way eastbound, running from Montraver Drive to Court Avenue. Court Avenue will run one-way northbound, from Huston Street to its dead end.

Montraver Drive will run west and southbound, from a dead end to the intersection with Huston Street.

Leaders say the goal is to reduce confusion and vehicle conflicts on streets that have seen increased complaints.

A new stop sign will be installed on Lower Ninth Street for traffic heading north at the intersection with Upper Ninth Street.

That addition, folded into Chapter 365-15 of the code, was described in the ordinance as necessary “for the safety and welfare” of residents.

City officials said the intersection had previously lacked clear signage and was flagged during routine traffic reviews.

Parking regulations are also getting an update.

The ordinance prohibits parking at all times along the north side of Braddock Avenue from Sixth to Ninth streets, and on the south side of Summit Avenue between Grant and Leeds avenues.

The changes align the law with how those stretches are currently being used and enforced.

One final adjustment adds a special-purpose parking zone on Schoonmaker Avenue.

Between 4 and 5 p.m. each day, the north side of the street from 277 to 269 Schoonmaker will be designated for loading and unloading only.

The changes took effect immediately. A full copy of the ordinance is available to review at City Hall.

In other business, council agreed to place a painted crosswalk and “Yield to Pedestrians” signage at the intersection of the Monessen Library and His Place Coffee, Community and More on 3rd Street. Council also held a first reading and agreed to advertise an ordinance that would add a stop sign at the intersection of Spring Drive and Lee Drive.