Drivers may need to slow down a little as they head across town.

Last week, city officials decided to reduce the speed limit to 25 miles per hour on portions of Seventh and Absaroka streets — two of Powell’s main thoroughfares. The spots had been posted 35 and 30 mph.

City Director of Public Works Gary Butts said the changes were made, in part, because of an increasing number of homes, residences and general activity along the routes.

Prior to the changes, Seventh Street had been posted at 30 mph from Tower Boulevard to Division Street and then from Day Street to Panther Boulevard — a stretch that passes by the Park County Fairgrounds and Powell High School.

“Seventh Street has needed to be cleaned up really for quite awhile, since the new high school went in,” Butts said. He said the section by the fairgrounds also sees a lot of people crossing back and forth.

The speed limit will remain 20 mph around PHS while school is in session and through the Northwest College campus all year long.

Meanwhile, the stretch of Absaroka Street that runs from Seventh Street north to 14th Street/Lane 8 near the Park County Annex has been dropped from 35 to 25 mph.

Butts said part of the reason for the change is to discourage drivers from speeding through the sections of Absaroka Street to the south that are currently being widened.

“We’re not trying to create speed demons out there,” Butts said, “So we’re trying to keep it residential.”

A new 12-unit apartment complex is planned just north of the Absaroka/Seventh intersection and there are long-term plans to develop the nearby farmland, in addition to a relatively new subdivision north of the college.

“We’re just trying to tie it all together,” Butts said, noting that the city speed limit is 25 mph unless otherwise noted.

“It didn’t make sense to have these little microzones of 30 miles per hour and then 20 and 25,” he said.

Although police frequently receive complaints of speeding near Seventh Street’s intersections with Division and Hamilton streets, neither of the areas are particularly accident-prone, said Police Chief Roy Eckerdt; Butts similarly described the lower speed limits as being proactive rather than a response to a particular problem.

As far as enforcement, Eckerdt said drivers can expect police to take their usual approach of education before citations.

“When something changes, we obviously focus a little bit heavier on warnings,” he said. “But generally speaking, if you’ve been warned before, then the warning’s obviously not gained your attention and we need to do something different.”

He added that, “It’s going to be a change for us, just like everybody else.”

Meanwhile, Butts said the city is considering whether the 30 mph speed limit on Monroe Street — which has an increasing number of residences and passes by Southside Elementary School — should be dropped to 25 mph as well.