Do you ever find yourself driving and suddenly realize you’re going faster than you thought? It’s a common scenario, especially on familiar roads, where getting a bit too heavy-footed on the accelerator is easy. This habit can be dangerous, particularly as you come into a town where you’ll often see frequent stops and people crossing the road. Unfortunately, it’s typical for drivers to miss these reduced speed limits.
Willy Sorenson, a traffic safety engineer in the Traffic and Safety Bureau, noted a common request from cities. “They often ask about lower speeds as you enter their city limits to increase the safety of their streets, but they have a few issues including budget constraints and limited law enforcement availability to enforce the lower speeds. We wanted to step up and find a way to offer cost-effective solutions to help these smaller cities and towns improve safety.”
After careful consideration, speed feedback signs emerged as an effective and affordable option to alert drivers to changing speed limits. The signs display the driver’s speed and may illuminate a “slow down” message if a vehicle is going more than 20 mph over the speed limit.
The Iowa DOT had $750,000 allocated in the first year to assist local public works agencies. With each sign costing between $6,000 and $8,000, 80 signs have already been put in place, with 100 more awaiting installation.
Sorenson explained that the program covers the initial expenses of signs, posts, and installation. However, cities and towns must accept ownership and be responsible for all ongoing maintenance and operation costs. An initial five-year warranty will help with these costs. Current eligibility for the program includes towns with populations between 750 and 15,000 located along state or U.S. highways. If a city or town would like additional signage on other roads, they can receive discounted pricing.
Sorenson noted that Iowa is unique in its approach and he isn’t aware of any similar statewide programs in the U.S. To determine the program’s effectiveness, Iowa State University’s Institute for Transportation is conducting a research project, potentially paving the way for other states to adopt similar initiatives.
For more information on the speed feedback sign program, visit https://iowadot.gov/traffic/Speed-Feedback-Signs.

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