Caltrans is lowering speed limits on a section of state Highway 9, a mountainous two-lane highway in Santa Cruz County.

The state transportation agency recently did an engineering and traffic survey of a section of the highway stretching more than 11 miles from near Exit Road at the city limits of Santa Cruz north to the Boulder Creek area.

Based on the findings of the survey, Caltrans is lowering the speed limit from 35 mph to 30 mph for a section just south of San Lorenzo Avenue to just south of Hillside Avenue, from 30 mph to 25 mph in the Ben Lomond area, and from 35 mph to 30 mph for a segment north of Brookdale.

Caltrans said in a news release that the changes “aim to encourage the safe and orderly flow of traffic,” and that enforcement of the new speed limits will start once all new signage is updated, which is expected to be completed in the next 30 days.

The California Highway Patrol expressed support for the changes to Highway 9.

“I would like to remind the motoring public to always drive at a safe speed for the current conditions and drive responsibly. Excessive speed is one of the leading causes of serious injury and fatal crashes. Let’s all do our part to keep our roads safe,” said CHP Lt. Grant Boles from the agency’s Santa Cruz-area office in a statement.

Dan McMenamin is the managing editor at Bay City News, directing daily news coverage of the 12-county greater Bay Area. He has worked for BCN since 2008 and has been managing editor since 2014 after previously serving as BCN’s San Francisco bureau reporter. A UC Davis graduate, he came to BCN after working for a newspaper and nonprofit in the Davis area. He handles staffing, including coaching of our interns, day-to-day coverage decisions and management of the newswire.