A push to reduce the speed limit on N. High Street and North Broadway through Clintonville could turn into an effort to make the entire neighborhood a 25-mph zone.

The Clintonville Area Commission says it will likely first ask the city to reduce the speed limit from 35 mph to 25 mph on High Street between Arcadia Avenue and the Worthington line, and on North Broadway between Rt. 315 and I-71, said Michael Folmar, a member of the Clintonville Area Commission.

“What we hear from residents in the neighborhood is High Street is still not pedestrian friendly,” said Mike McLaughlin, a commission member.

Reducing the speed limit on High Street is a good start, say members, who may bring it up at next Thursday’s commission meeting.

“I’d like to see 25 miles an hour in all of Clintonville,” said Folmar, a co-chairman of a committee that will study speed limits.

But it’s unlikely that city officials would approve a neighborhood-wide speed limit. They never have, said Rick Tilton, assistant public service director.

“The city studies one street at a time,” Tilton said. “It’s not a case of one size fits all.”

And the Ohio Department of Transportation must approve any speed limit change.

Clintonville residents and business owners say the city should consider the request.

Katie Palmer, who owns SoBo Style at 3282 N. High St., said that when someone parked in front of her store last week and opened her car door, another car zoomed by and tore it off.

“They speed through here,” said Palmer, who added that a slower speed limit would make High Street businesses more inviting.

Still, the city recently completed a traffic study supporting 35 mph speed limits on High Street and Indianola Avenue, McLaughlin said.

The city studied the stretches of High and Indianola between E. North Broadway and Weber, Tilton said.

The commission hasn’t taken a position on those studies as the committee continues to discuss speed limits, said D Searcy, chairwoman of the Clintonville Area Commission.

On the Northwest Side, residents were unsuccessful last year in getting the city to reduce the speed limit on Olentangy River Road from 45 mph to 35 mph between Rt. 161 and Bethel Road.

“We knew it wasn’t easy going in,” said Jennifer Adair, who leads the Northwest Civic Association.

Searcy said she knows the city is reluctant to reduce speed limits.

“I think we’re pushing a stone uphill to get that accomplished,” she said.

The Clintonville Chamber has not come out with an official position. But McLaughlin said a 25-mph speed limit on High Street would help Clintonville’s commercial corridor.

He said some businesses might be reluctant to locate there because of what he calls the “rush, rush, rush of High Street.”

High Street’s speed limit through the campus area is 25 mph, and it’s 30 mph in the Short North.

McLaughlin said the speed limits in successful commercial areas, such as E. Main Street in Bexley, Grandview Avenue in Grandview Heights and High Street in Olde Worthington, are all 25 mph.

McLaughlin said the commission would have to ask residents if they want the speed limits reduced on other streets, including Morse and Weber roads and Indianola Avenue.

“It’s one thing to get the speed reduced, More Here from the Columbus Dispatch