FERRIDAY &045; A week into life at 35 miles per hour, Ferriday residents and officials have different opinions about the newly raised speed limit.

&8220;It’s a whole lot better, 100 percent better,&8221; Boo Henderson said.

&8220;It didn’t make sense, it was too slow, it was holding up traffic.&8221;

Against the wishes of the Ferriday Police Department and the town of Ferriday, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development raised the speed limit on E.E. Wallace Boulevard throughout Ferriday from 25 miles per hour.

&8220;Any time you’ve got a narrow roadway like we’ve got here and you raise the speed limit, it can cause problems,&8221; FPD Chief Robert Davis said.

He blamed the increased speed limit on several minor accidents that have occurred recently but declined to elaborate.

Speed limits throughout the rest of the city remained the same.

Businesses on E.E. Wallace either welcomed the raise or hadn’t noticed it.

&8220;It’s about time they raised it. It’s not more dangerous,&8221; Charles Stuttler of Wiggins Machine Shop said.

Others said traffic flowed more smoothly through town.

While the raise in the speed limit is certain to cut into the number of speeding tickets written through town, Davis said it’s the safety of the people he’s worried about.

&8220;I’m not so big on the citations, my basic thing is safety,&8221; he said.

&8220;The traffic is flowing faster. I’m not going to say smoother. It puts pedestrians and everyone else at risk,&8221; Davis said.

Kenny Davis is one pedestrian who agreed with the chief.

The disabled Davis gets around in a motorized scooter and doesn’t like contending with a speedier E.E. Wallace Boulevard.

&8220;They’re going a little faster. I wish they’d kept it at 25,&8221; he said.