Legislation Push to Reduce Speed Limit
After no action from the Department of Transportation, Canton’s state representatives have reintroduced legislation to reduce the speed limit on East Main Street for the fourth time in six years. The DOT’s protocol has deflected this issue back to Canton despite the danger it poses – leaving it up to the New York State Legislature to enact the speed change through law. Elected officials, law enforcement and residents plea for this change to occur sooner rather than later.
The proposed Assembly Bill, A39 (2025 NY) would reduce the speed limit on Main Street from 55 mph to 40 mph from mile marker 11 7506 1320 to mile marker 11 7506 1332. Assemblyman Scott Gray (R-116) highlighted the dangers of having a 55 mph speed zone where vehicles need to pull out. “There’s a lot of ingress and egress changes on that road – when we see substantial change in access, it becomes a concern,” he said, “do you want somebody pulling out of a parking area into traffic going 55 miles an hour?”
The last active status of Assembly Bill A39 (2025 NY) was its referral to the New York State Assembly’s transportation committee on Jan. 8. Gray said that legislation that relates to speed zone changes could take several years to pass — many of which are still pending. “It is not uncharacteristic for legislation to be on the books for years before it gets passed, in this case, there’s many speed zone changes pending,” he said.
Gray noted that the first rendition of this bill was introduced in 2018 by Senator Patty Richie (R-48) and Assemblyman Mark Walczyk (D-116). “So, the bill is old. We could keep it on the books just to keep the attention on it,” he said. Gray noted many bills aim to reduce the speed limit across New York. “I do not see it passing,” he said, “It would take a major petition or egregious accidents to push this through.”
Gray has been pressuring the DOT to conduct an official study to change the speed limit officially. He said the department “often will say it’s a law enforcement issue.” Despite the DOT deflecting the issue to law enforcement, Chief Ryan Cole of the Canton Police Department supports reducing the East Main Street speed limit. “It’s not just preventing congestion; it’s more of trying to slow down people in a congested area,” he said, “we have frequent accidents out there [East Main Street], particularly to people pulling out of driveways from businesses for the most part.”
David S. Carroll, managing director of Northeast Government Consulting, LLC, said that the NYDOT is one of the largest transportation departments in the country. Challenging speed limits would require both the DOT and legislative support to achieve. “You want to engage the right stakeholders – mainly in the executive branch,” said Carroll, “they [DOT] report to the executive branch, which is the governor.”
Caleb Young ’27, Canton local, said there are good safety intentions behind reducing the speed limit, and drivers wouldn’t notice a difference. “I am perfectly fine with reducing it to 40 [mph],” he said, “It would be safer for everyone, and it wouldn’t really bother me.” Young is confused as to why the DOT has not conducted a study yet, saying that changing a speed zone should not be complicated.