Highway 20 speed limit reduced south of Oak Harbor
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, May 12, 2026
This week, Washington State Department of Transportation announced speed limit reductions on Highway 20 south of Oak Harbor, from Penn Cove to Southwest Barlow Street.
The announcement follows a series of changes to speed limits on roads across the county and within the city of Oak Harbor this year.
WSDOT reported that it worked closely with the city on the permanent speed limit reductions inside city limits. The city council approved the speed limit changes on the highway in January, although the highway is under the state’s jurisdiction and the city’s ordinance was more of a formality.
The reductions outside of the city come after the state received questions from community members and reviewed traffic patterns in the area, the announcement states.
WSDOT will replace the existing speed limit signs with new ones this week. The new speed limits will be enforcement once the new signs are up.
The new speed limits will be:
* 45 mph between mileposts 24.95 and 30.26 – down from the current 50 mph speed limit.
* 35 mph between mileposts 30.26 and 30.77 – down from the current 50 mph and 40 mph speed limits in the area.
* 30 mph between mileposts 30.77 and 31.29 – down from the current 40 mph speed limit.
“The speed reductions will better match current driving speeds, traffic volumes and the design of the road and nearby areas,” WSDOT reported.
Early this year, Island County commissioners adopted a maximum speed limit of 45 mph on all county roads along with a series of other changes recommended by traffic engineers following the completion of a study that was three years in the making. County engineers worked on the large-scale project to reevaluate all speed limits on county-owned roads on Whidbey and Camano islands for the past few years.
Many of the changes were not popular with residents and drivers. Both the commissioners and the sheriff reported that their inboxes were flooded with complaints once the new signs went up.
Last fall, the city asked WSDOT to lower the speed limit in the area of the new roundabout on Highway 20 at the intersection of West Fakkema Road in the north end of the city.
