Williams, Arizona Speed Traps
Williamson Street
Going toward Grand Canyon. Speed limit is 65 MPH. Then there’s a sign for 55MPH. Within 2 blocks, there’s a sign for 45MPH. It is so close to where you are slowing from 65 to 55 and do not even have time to slow to 45. And, a few yards past the 45 MPH sign, a cop car sits. The waiter at a restaurant said that the cops do this when they have nothing else to do. I do not remember the name of the road – it is the road coming off of the Interstate going toward the Grand Canyon. The town is Williams
State Highway 64 near US Highway I40
Radar guns toting cops within one mile of exit catching unsuspecting tourists going to grand canyon national park
State Highway 180 near State Highway 64
The speed limit is reduced from 65 MPH to 45 MPH. The signage warning of the reduced speed limit is easy to miss, because of extensive billboards in the vicinity. The area is extremely rural; there is no apparent justification for the reduced speed limit. The road being straight and open, with very little development around it, a motorist would reasonably presume the speed limit to be 65 MPH. A motorist who fails to see the 45 MPH posting (there is just one), and who continues at 65 MPH can be charged with a criminal violation, a Class 3 misdemeanor, for going 20+ MPH over the speed limit. A speed trap exists about 1000 ft into the 45 MPH zone, where highway 180 diverges from highway 64.
Interstate 40
AZ state patrol prefers to park in the center of the road under overpasses. Those cities like Williams which have multiple exits off the interstate will have speed control.
A word of caution — it is criminal speeding to exceed 85mph in AZ even though the posted limit is 75mph. Going over 85, even on an interstate, is worse than doing 80 in a two-lane 65 zone.
old highway 66 entering town, from both directions
Be careful when entering Williams on old highway 66 from either direction. The speed limit drops to a completely unreasonable 35 outside of town and then to 25 in the downtown area, and cops are often waiting, especially on the west side of town near the Department of Public Safety building, and the east side near where the road splits from a four-lane into two one-way streets. Sometimes they park an empty police car there, and other times there is a speed trap.