The McHenry County Board might be asking drivers to slow down on a few roads around the county.

The County Board’s transportation committee recently voted on five proposed speed limit reductions, but only two of them were backed. The full County Board will make the final decisions, however, and those are expected to take place at the board meeting that starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the County Administration Building at 667 Ware Road in Woodstock.

A couple of neighbors urged the county to lower the speed limit on Lincoln Road between Margaret Court and Cassandra Lane in the Lakemoor area more than proposed.

That stretch of Lincoln Road currently has a 45 mph limit, but the county proposes lowering that to 40 mph. The residents wanted to see a 30 or 35 mph speed limit.

They expressed safety concerns with that stretch of road being close to subdivisions and schools. The neighbors said they’ve witnessed cars traveling 60 to 70 mph in the area.

Resident John Ripkey said he lives off Lincoln, and people joke it’s not Lincoln Road but rather Lincoln Highway. He said there have been 27 rollover crashes near his home in the 25 years he has lived there, a figure that could not immediately be confirmed. He asked the board to revisit the matter and go further with a speed study that was conducted.

Resident Kathy Dam said there are townhouses going in at the end of Lincoln Road at Route 12, and that development and a subdivision off Bay Road will increase traffic on Lincoln Road when people are heading to amenities in McHenry such as the Riverwalk, shopping and dining.

Dam mentioned McHenry Middle School is at the corner of Chapel Hill and Lincoln roads, and kids there want to ride their bikes.

She said she will “cringe” when she sees kids on bikes going down Lincoln, thinking of the traffic on the road and drivers sometimes going well over the speed limit.

“I don’t want to see some kid get killed and his books are laying out in the middle of Lincoln Road,” Dam said.

Board member Brian Sager proposed lowering the speed limit by 10 mph rather than the proposed 5 mph, but the committee voted that down, and the 5 mph reduction passed.

Assistant County Engineer Darrell Kuntz said the county can only reduce speed limits 10 mph at a time. The county conducted a speed study on all of the roads up for a speed limit reduction, which resulted in the 40 mph proposal on Lincoln Road.

Under County Board rules, all speed limit reductions go before the full County Board for consideration, even if the transportation committee votes them down. Previously, a “no” vote at committee was the end of the road for the speed limit reduction.

Besides Lincoln Road, the other speed limit reductions going before the County Board are:

• Chapel Hill Road between Bay Road and Charnbrook Drive in Johnsburg. If approved, the speed limit would be 40 mph, down from the current 45 mph. The committee voted it down.
• Hickory Nut Grove Road between South Rawson Bridge Road and Tuxedo Lane near Cary. If approved, the speed limit would be 40 mph, down from 45 mph. The committee approved the reduction.
• Mason Hill Road between Valley Hill Road to just west of Cherry Valley Road in the Bull Valley area. If approved, the speed limit would be 40 mph, down from 45 mph. The committee voted down the reduction.
• South Union Road between Ackman and Ernesti roads near Huntley. If approved, the speed limit would be 50 mph, down from 55 mph. The committee voted down the reduction.

Speed studies were conducted on other roads throughout the county, but county officials did not suggest other speed limit changes based on the results of those studies.