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State Department of Transportation representatives recently studied an approximately four-mile portion of East Lake Road, from Bevier Road to around听Valentine Road. Following the investigation, the 55-mph speed limit will stay the same.

The results were released Monday during a meeting at Owasco Town Hall with DOT officials and local leaders. Attendees included Owasco Supervisor Ed Wagner, state Assemblyman Gary Finch, Cayuga County Sheriff David Gould, Owasco Fire Chief Chris Morabito and Cayuga County Legislator Aileen McNabb-Coleman,听who represents Owasco and Sennett.

DOT officials will return to Owasco to review the results for the public at the town board's next meeting on Dec. 8.

The traffic study was prompted by an accident in July that killed 18-year-old Auburn woman Chloe Calhoun.

Calhoun was exiting local eatery Tom Thumb Drive-In, 6143 E. Lake Road, when听her vehicle was struck by an SUV operated by Owasco man Dain Schneider. Schneider was sentenced in October after pleading guilty to three felonies, including aggravated vehicular homicide and aggravated driving while intoxicated.

Because Route 38A is a state road, it is up to state transportation officials to make changes to the speed limit.听DOT Regional Director Dave Smith was joined Monday by听Senior Transportation Analyst Teresa Haslauer and听Chuck Riedman, an assistant traffic engineer.

Though the speed limit will remain unchanged, the DOT is still planning other changes to parts of the road for increased safety.

A few existing intersection-warning signs will be readjusted in accordance with updated federal traffic regulations, Riedman said. Additional intersection-warning signs will be placed at Honeysuckle Road and Fire Lanes 7 and 8.

Further, Riedman said the DOT is looking to repave a portion of that section of East Lake Road in 2018, according to current projections. The area marked for repavement still needs to be determined.

When the road is repaired, crews will install rumble strips along the center and shoulder lines in the 55-mile-per-hour zones. Meanwhile, the white shoulder lines will be painted two inches wider over the entire four-mile portion.

"We hope that will reduce the majority of the run-off-the-road accidents," he said.

'Hesitant to lower it'

Engineers reached a conclusion after evaluating the road in two parts: from Bevier Road to Brookhollow Drive听(about 2.5 miles) and from Brookhollow Drive to a point around 700 feet south of Valentine Road (about 1.3 miles).

Riedman said the two biggest factors in the traffic study were radar speed tests and accident data from the last five years.听Haslauer said she, and others, conducted five separate test drives at various speed increments.

Meanwhile, Riedman said engineers did radar tests four different times to determine that the recorded speeds averaged between 58 to 60 mph. The readings fell "within the ballpark," he said, of levels based on the concept of the 85th percentile speed, the speed at or below which 85 percent of vehicles typically travel, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

The radar readings and test drives were done during weekdays in August, he said. Waslauer said test drives were conducted between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Accident data was all-inclusive over the five-year period.听Riedman said most accidents along that part of East Lake Road have involved deer or other animals. Deer-related accidents, he said, were common near听Bevier Road and the southern part of Hollow Brook Drive, which will likely prompt state officials to install deer-crossing signs in that area.

Riedman said engineers compared the road's accident rate with statewide data.

For the first study section of East Lake Road, accident rates were 22-percent higher than statewide averages, though the injury rate was around 35 percent lower. For the second, accidents and injuries were lower by 4 percent and 23 percent, respectively.

The DOT study accounted for 82 accidents between January 2011 to Dec. 31, 2015, determining听there were 27 accidents that did not involve deer or animals. Riedman said 16 involved single vehicles going off the road, while there were a couple of head-on collisions. Three accidents, all off the road, were alcohol-related, Haslauer said.

The 82, however, varies from the 125 accidents recorded by the county 911 center between 2011 to July 2016, according to Gould.听Officials were uncertain about the reason behind the discrepancy 鈥� DOT engineers could only accumulate accident records with police reports, Riedman said.

Haslauer said DOT engineers cross-referenced their findings with an analytic software tool used by the Federal Highway Administration. The software confirmed their conclusions to retain the speed limit.

"Artificially lowering the speed limit can cause more accident problems," Riedman said. "And that's why we're very hesitant to lower it unless we have some good data to support it."

'Disappointment听is not factual'

McNabb-Coleman said she was surprised by the conclusion, commenting on the notion among residents that Route 38A is dangerous for drivers.

Gould agreed with that characterization, but said the study shows that this thought process is not based in data.听And while the accident involving Calhoun spurred the study, the county sheriff acknowledged that a speed limit reduction would not have had a bearing on Schneider's actions.

"I'm sure we're all a little disappointed 鈥� of course we are, because we wanted it 45," he said. "But disappointment is not factual, so you guys came out with the facts and you did a great study as far as I'm concerned."

Riedman said it is possible to have the study reviewed by the DOT's main office in Albany, though appeals have been historically unsuccessful. He said he would strongly anticipate the same result in this case.

The public and Owasco officials will decide whether to move forward with an appeal during the night of the Dec. 8 town board meeting, Wagner said. Finch said he believes an appeal is worth considering.

"I think people are going to want to know that everything that they've tried has been truly exhausted," he said.

One such resident is Tom Galbato, owner of Tom Thumb Drive In. Galbato joined local government officials Monday to hear the results, hoping for a speed limit reduction that he has sought .

Galbato broached the notion of a seasonal speed limit, but Riedman 鈥� referencing the Onondaga Lake Parkway, which is reduced from 55 mph to 45 mph between November and April 鈥� said such a restriction does not make much of a difference on speeds and requires consistent enforcement.

The timing of the tests during weekdays still bothered Galbato.

"They should sit for one weekend in my place and see the traffic go by, and then they will realize," Galbato said. "They did it in a professional way, but one size doesn't fit all."