By MARK MCGEE
mmcgee@bedfordcountypost.com
The speed limits on many county roads have been changed.
Based on feedback from residents, on February 11, 2025, Bedford County Board of Commissioners approved a new speed limit plan which had been submitted by Highway Superintendent Mark Clanton.
The Bedford County Board of Commissioners voted to approve changes in the speed limits on certain county roads while maintaining a 45 miles per hour limit on several roads.
“Back in 1990-91 the Commission voted for a standard speed limit of 45 miles per hour for all county-maintained roads,” said Clanton. “This new plan sets three different speed limits.
“This started about five years ago. We were getting a lot of calls from people on dead end roads. They wanted a speed limit out there. The 45 miles per hour which was too fast for a dead end road. With the increase in traffic I came up with a plan for safety.”
Clanton stressed that all side roads, not just dead end roads, will be safer. But the biggest difference is the reduced limit on dead end roads.
“There is no place to turn around on the dead end roads,” Clantion said. “These are roads that connect to another road on one end but not the other. They are 14 to 16feet wide with no place to turn around.
“I originally had the speed limit at 30. But the commission wanted to reduce it to 25.”
Clanton based his speed limit changes on the average traffic counts provided by the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT).
The collector roads will remain at 45 miles per hour. They are heavily-traveled roads that often feed traffic onto a state highway or into a town or city. There are 26 on the list: Warner’s Bridge Road, Sims Road, Nashville Dirt Road, Midland Road, Unionville-Deason Road, Coopertown Road, Longview Road, Kingdom Road, Beasley Road, Halls Mill Road, Unionville-Chapel Hill Road, Cooper Road, Edd Joyce Road, Horse Mountain Road, Railroad Avenue, Fairfield Pike, Hilltop Road, New Herman Road, New Center Church Road, Snell Road, Pickle Road, Knight Campground Road, Dixon Road, Knob Creek Road and Bethlehem Church Road.
All basic residential roads are 30 miles per hour. These are less-traveled side roads or streets within a subdivision.
The changes have the county sign shop busy with printing and installation.
“We are putting up signs,” Clanton said. “In two weeks we should have all of the road signs up. Now we are starting on the speed limit signs.”
