Can the Town of Amherst, after an engineering study, unilaterally change the speed limit on a road within its town limits, even if that road is part of the state highway system?

Subject

The authority granted localities under § 46.2-1300(A)(1) and -(A)(2) permits the Town of Amherst to adjust speed limits as prescribed therein only on local roads; the authority does not extend to roads within the state system of highways.

Plain-English summary

The Town of Amherst's attorney asked whether the town could unilaterally raise or lower speed limits on any road within town limits after an engineering study (§ 46.2-1300(A)(1)) or temporarily lower a speed limit in a work zone (§ 46.2-1300(A)(2)), without VDOT approval.

The AG said no, with a clear line drawn between local roads and state-system roads. § 46.2-1300(A)(1) and (A)(2) give localities authority over local roads they control, not over state-highway-system roads passing through town. The state highway system is exclusively under the Commissioner of Highways under § 33.2-223. § 46.2-878 lets the Commissioner adjust speed limits on the state system; localities have authority over local roads only.

A 2024 statutory amendment (Acts ch. 842) confirmed this reading. The legislature added a narrow exception in § 46.2-1300(A)(4) letting localities reduce speeds to 15-25 mph in business/residence districts on state highways. It did not add similar language to (A)(1) or (A)(2). That selective amendment confirms that the General Assembly intended (A)(1) and (A)(2) to remain limited to local roads.

What this means for you

For Virginia towns and cities

You cannot unilaterally change the speed limit on a road that is part of the state highway system, even if the road runs through your town. The 2024 narrow carve-out at § 46.2-1300(A)(4) lets you reduce speeds to 15-25 mph in business/residence districts where the existing posted limit is 25 mph, but that is the only category in which you can act on state highways. For everything else on state-system roads, work through VDOT.

For local roads (roads under your control), § 46.2-1300(A)(1) lets you raise or lower the speed limit after an engineering and traffic investigation, and § 46.2-1300(A)(2) lets you temporarily reduce speed limits up to 60 days for work zones, without that investigation. Mark the zones clearly per the statute.

For traffic engineers

Identify the jurisdictional ownership of each segment before recommending a speed-limit change. If you have any uncertainty, contact VDOT's primary liaison for your town under § 46.2-878. The 2024 amendment to § 46.2-878 requires VDOT to notify the town's primary liaison when the Commissioner makes a speed limit change in a town.

For law enforcement

Speed limits posted under invalid local authority (e.g., a town unilaterally lowering a state-highway limit outside (A)(4)) may be unenforceable. If you have any doubt about which authority posted a given speed-limit sign on a state-system road, verify before citing.

For motorists

This opinion is about who has authority to set the speed, not about the obligation to obey posted speed limits. If a speed limit is posted, you must obey it. If you are litigating a ticket and you believe the speed-limit posting was invalid because the town exceeded its authority, raise that with counsel; it is a fact-bound question.

Common questions

What is the state highway system?

Roads under the jurisdiction and control of the Commonwealth Transportation Board, including interstate highways, primary state highways, and secondary state highways. Va. Code §§ 33.2-310, 33.2-317, 33.2-326.

What roads count as "local roads"?

Roads owned and maintained by the locality, including streets, alleys, and other local rights-of-way. Towns generally maintain their own streets and have authority over them; cities maintain their own city streets (with some exceptions for arterial streets); counties typically rely on VDOT for road maintenance.

What did the 2024 amendment do?

It added § 46.2-1300(A)(4) allowing localities to reduce speed limits on highways within their boundaries (including state-system highways) to as low as 15-25 mph in business or residence districts where the existing posted limit is 25 mph. It also added a cross-reference in § 46.2-878 acknowledging that exception. This is the only state-highway exception in § 46.2-1300.

What if a town posts a 25-mph sign on a state highway outside the (A)(4) exception?

That posting is potentially invalid. Localities have no authority under (A)(1) or (A)(2) over state-system roads. A motorist cited for exceeding that speed could potentially challenge the citation on the ground that the posting was unauthorized.

What is § 46.2-1300(A)(2) good for?

Temporary work-zone speed reductions on local roads. Up to 60 days, no engineering study required. Useful for short-term construction, utility work, or events. Cannot be used to lower speeds on state-system highways outside (A)(4).

Background and statutory framework

The framework in three layers:

1. State highway control: § 33.2-223 vests in the Commissioner of Highways the power to do all acts necessary or convenient for constructing, maintaining, and operating the systems of state highways. The opinion explains that jurisdiction and control of the state highway system is vested in that office, and that portions of state highways passing through a town remain under state control for speed regulation.

2. Default speed limits: § 46.2-870 (70 mph interstate/limited-access, 60 or 55 mph elsewhere on state highways); § 46.2-873 (25 mph school crossing zones); § 46.2-874 (25 mph business/residence districts); § 46.2-875 (35 mph default in municipalities).

3. Local authority: § 46.2-1300(A)(1)–(A)(2) for local roads; § 15.2-2000 (local regulations do not apply to state highways); § 15.2-2028 (local traffic regulations must be consistent with Title 46.2).

The Dillon Rule (Confrere Club, Bragg Hill) means localities have only powers expressly granted, fairly implied, or essential. Speed-limit authority over state highways is not expressly granted (except in (A)(4)), not fairly implied (state explicitly controls state highways under § 33.2-223), and not essential and indispensable to town function.

The 2024 amendment (Acts ch. 842) is significant. Dale v. City of Newport News (1992) tells us amendments are presumed substantive. Adding (A)(4)'s state-highway exception while leaving (A)(1) and (A)(2) unchanged confirms that the legislature understood (A)(1) and (A)(2) to be limited to local roads.

Citations

• Va. Code Ann. § 1-248 (state-law supremacy)
• Va. Code Ann. § 2.2-505 (advisory opinion authority)
• Va. Code Ann. §§ 15.2-2000, 15.2-2001, 15.2-2004 (local road authority)
• Va. Code Ann. § 15.2-2028 (local traffic regulations)
• Va. Code Ann. § 33.2-100 (highway definitions)
• Va. Code Ann. § 33.2-223 (Commissioner of Highways)
• Va. Code Ann. §§ 33.2-310, 33.2-317, 33.2-326 (state highway control)
• Va. Code Ann. § 46.2-100 (highway definition)
• Va. Code Ann. §§ 46.2-870 to 46.2-875 (default speed limits)
• Va. Code Ann. § 46.2-878 (state-highway speed-limit authority)
• Va. Code Ann. § 46.2-1300 (local-government powers)
• 2024 Va. Acts ch. 842 (state-highway speed-limit amendment)
• City of Richmond v. Confrere Club of Richmond, 239 Va. 77 (1990)
• Bragg Hill Corp. v. City of Fredericksburg, 297 Va. 566 (2019)
• Dale v. City of Newport News, 243 Va. 48 (1992)
• GEICO v. Hall, 260 Va. 349 (2000)
• Sussex Cmty. Servs. Ass'n, 251 Va. 240 (1996)
• Tarrant Reg'l Water Dist. v. Herrmann, 569 U.S. 614 (2013)
• L.F. v. Breit, 285 Va. 163 (2013)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.oag.state.va.us/annual-reports-opinions/official-opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.oag.state.va.us/files/Opinions/2025/25-001-Kemp-issued.pdf

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain. The linked PDF is authoritative.

COMMONWEALTH of VIRGINIA
Office of the Attorney General
Jason S. Miyares
Attorney General
November 14, 2025

Kelley Kemp, Esquire
Town Attorney, Town of Amherst
Post Office Box 1998
Richmond, Virginia 23218

Dear Ms. Kemp:

I am responding to your request for an official advisory opinion in accordance with § 2.2-505 of the Code of Virginia.

Issue Presented

You inquire regarding the authority of the Town of Amherst to adjust the speed limit on certain roads located within the Town without approval from the Virginia Department of Transportation ("VDOT"). You more specifically ask i) whether Code § 46.2-1300(A)(1) permits the Town unilaterally to increase or decrease speed limits on any road in the town after an engineering study and ii) whether § 46.2-1300(A)(2) empowers the Town to reduce temporarily the speed limit in a roadway construction area.

Response

It is my opinion that the authority granted localities under § 46.2-1300(A)(1) and -(A)(2) permit the Town of Amherst to adjust speed limits as prescribed therein only on local roads; the authority does not extend to roads within the state system of highways.

Applicable Law and Discussion

In Virginia, a town's powers are governed by the Dillon Rule of strict construction, which "provides that municipal corporations possess and can exercise only those powers expressly granted by the General Assembly, those necessarily or fairly implied therefrom, and those that are essential and indispensable." Any exercise of power must be consistent with state law. "A municipal ordinance is invalid under Dillon's Rule if it exceeds the scope of authority granted by statute, or is inconsistent with a statute such that the ordinance and statute cannot coexist." Any reasonable doubt as to whether a specific power exists must be resolved against the locality.

Pursuant to Code § 46.2-1300(A), "[t]he governing bodies of counties, cities, and towns may adopt ordinances . . . to regulate the operation of vehicles on the highways" within their borders. More specifically, Subdivision (A)(1) permits a locality to "[i]ncrease or decrease the speed limit within its boundaries, provided such increase or decrease in speed shall be based upon an engineering and traffic investigation by such county, city or town and provided such speed area or zone is clearly indicated by markers or signs[.]" Subdivision (A)(2) allows local authorities to reduce "for a temporary period not to exceed 60 days, without such engineering and traffic investigation, the speed limit on any portion of any highway of the city or town on which work is being done or where the highway is under construction or repair[.]"

At first glance, this statutory language could be viewed to empower local governments to change the speed limit applicable to any road, or portion thereof, that lies within its boundaries. The language of § 46.2-1300(A)(1) and (2), however, cannot be read in isolation. "Virginia jurisprudence adheres to the 'cardinal rule of construction,' that a 'statute should be construed, where possible, with a view toward harmonizing it with other statutes[.]'" Accordingly, statutory provisions "relating to the same subject are to be taken together, and compared in the construction of them, because they are considered as having one object in view, and as acting upon one system." Upon review of the General Assembly's treatment of highway control and speed limits as a whole, I conclude that the power conferred pursuant to § 46.2-1300(A)(1) and (2) encompasses only those portions of highway that are under local control and does not extend to parts of the state system of highways.

Per its own terms, § 46.2-1300(A) directs that localities may not adopt ordinances "in conflict with the provisions of [Title 46.2]." Title 46.2 contains provisions that establish default maximum speed limits that apply generally throughout Virginia based on the type of highway. For example, § 46.2-870 sets forth the limits for interstate highways or other limited access highways with divided roadways, nonlimited access highways having four or more lanes, and all state primary highways, where the maximum is 70, 60 or 55 miles per hour depending on certain criteria. Sections 46.2-873 and 46.2-874, respectively, provide that 25 miles per hour is the maximum speed in school crossing zones and business or residence districts. Per § 46.2-875, the default speed limit in municipalities is 35 miles per hour.

In § 46.2-878, however, the General Assembly has provided, that "notwithstanding" these default provisions, the "Commissioner of Highways or other authority having jurisdiction over highways may decrease the speed limits set forth in § 46.2-870 and may increase or decrease the speed limits set forth in §§ 46.2-873 through 46.2-875 on any highway under its jurisdiction . . . ." Virginia's Commissioner of Highways is the authority generally vested with "the power to do all acts necessary or convenient for constructing, improving, maintaining, and preserving the efficient operation of the highways embraced in the systems of state highways . . . ." Accordingly, "the jurisdiction and control of the State Highway System is vested in the State Highway Commissioner." Portions of state highways that pass through a town remain under state control for purposes of speed regulation even; indeed, § 46.2-878 requires VDOT, upon the Commissioner's making a "speed limit change [that] will occur in a town . . . [to] notify the primary liaison in the town and the primary liaison in the county in which the town is located."

Localities are separately empowered to construct and maintain their own "streets, limited access highways, express highways, roads, [and] alleys[.]" Although a "locality may regulate and control the operation of motor and other vehicles and the[ir] movement . . . on streets, highways, roads, . . . and other public rights-of-way[,]" a local regulation does not "apply to any highway, road, street or other public right-of-way which constitutes a part of any system of state highways" and "shall not be inconsistent with the provisions of Chapter 13 (§ 46.2-1300 et seq.) of Title 46.2[,]" which provisions more specifically address the "[p]owers of [l]ocal [g]overnments" with respect to motor vehicles. Accordingly, as used in § 46.2-878, "[t]he term 'other authority,' obviously, has reference to local authorities in instances in which they have control over local highways . . . ."

A review of the overarching statutory scheme thus reveals that the General Assembly has established a general structure that affords the Commonwealth exclusive control over the state highway system, and gives local governments control only over local roads, subject to applicable state law. Section 46.2-1300(A) must be read in this context. While § 46.2-1300(A) gives all localities, including towns such as Amherst, authority over local roads, it does not grant the locality authority over all roads that may be located within its geographic limits. Moreover, the law does not afford localities broad speed limit powers even for the highways over which the locality has control; the statute instead specifies conditions for the exercise of the authority otherwise afforded a locality under other provisions of law.

A 2024 enactment amending both §§ 46.2-878 and 46.2-1300 confirms this understanding. The General Assembly added language to § 46.2-878 that conditioned its grant of authority to alter speed limits: such authority now exists "except as otherwise provided in subdivision A 4 of § 46.2-1300." Subdivision (A)(4) of § 46.2-1300, in turn, relates to local authority to reduce posted speed limits in business and residential districts below 25 miles per hour. Prior to 2024, a locality was authorized to "[r]educe the speed limit to less than 25 miles per hour, but not less than 15 miles per hour, on any highway within its boundaries that is located" in such a district. In 2024, the General Assembly amended the statute to provide that a locality may "[r]educe the speed limit to less than 25 miles per hour, but not less than 15 miles per hour, on any highway, including those in the state highway system, within its boundaries that is located in a business district or residence district for which the existing posted speed limit is 25 miles per hour . . . ." Other language added to § 46.2-1300 makes clear that subdivision (A)(4) "shall be controlling" over any inconsistent provision of § 46.2-878. The General Assembly has not amended subdivisions (A)(1) and (A)(2) to add similar language to their provisions.

As a general rule, there is a presumption that a substantive change in law was intended by an amendment to an existing statute. In addition, when the General Assembly uses specific language in one instance but omits language on a similar subject elsewhere in the statute, we presume the difference was intentional. The 2024 amendments must be given effect; doing so affirms the conclusion that absent the specific authority that was added in 2024, a locality is without power under § 46.2-1300(A) to adjust speed limits on any portion of state highways. It is my view that, in enacting the complementary amendments to §§ 46.2-878 and 46.2-1300, the General Assembly reduced the existing speed-limit-setting power vested in the Commissioner and transferred it to localities for a narrow class of state highways, those described in subdivision (A)(4). The limited nature of this transfer is evident from the fact that the legislature added a reference only to subdivision (A)(4) in amending § 46.2-878 and restricted its amendment of § 46.2-1300 to subdivision (A)(4), without adding similar language in subdivisions (A)(1) and (A)(2). It follows that subdivisions (A)(1) and (A)(2) provide no authority for a locality to adjust speed limits on state highways. Based on the foregoing, I conclude that the extent to which a town unilaterally may reduce speed limits on a given road depends on whether the road is within the state system of state highways.

Conclusion

Accordingly, it is my opinion that the provisions § 46.2-1300(A)(1) and -(A)(2) authorize the Town of Amherst to adjust speed limits as prescribed therein on local roads but that the authority conferred does not extend to highways within the state system of highways.

With kindest regards, I am,
Very truly yours,

Jason S. Miyares
Attorney General