SWANSBORO, N.C. – Swansboro Town council passed a resolution Tuesday which would lower the speed limit and make it consistent throughout their town along Highway 24.

• Highway 24 is between Queens Creek Road and Main Street Extension
• NCDOT still has to approve the vote to make it final
• Officials say the resolution would reduce collisions and protect the 3,000 residents

The 1.38 mile stretch of Highway 24 is between Queens Creek Road and Main Street Extension. It would drop from 45 mph to 35 mph. North Carolina Department of Transportation still has to approve the vote to make it final.

“We have as many as 30,000 cars coming through our town a day,” says Scott Chase, the Swansboro Town Manager, about the heavy traffic in the area.

“It certainly creates a safer environment by reduced speeds. People are able to get those extra couple of seconds to make a stop.  Certainly with the red lights in town, you're able to stop at that light, instead of trying to push through it,” Chase said.

Chase says the move would reduce collisions and protect the 3,000 some residents in the small town, especially with four schools in the area.

In the meantime, Swansboro police officers are working together with the North Carolina State Highway Patrol to enforce the current speed limit.

“Some people travel five miles per hour over the speed limit. It's just in their nature to do it. So, when the’yre traveling 45, they're actually traveling 50. When the speed limit breaks to 35, that’s going to leave them 15 miles per hour over,” says Ken Jackson, the Chief of Police in Swansboro.