States Boost Speed Limits
On Major Highways

Moves Come Despite Concerns
Over Safety, High Gas Prices;
80 Miles Per Hour in Texas
By STEPHANIE CHEN
July 20, 2006; Page D1

With gasoline prices approaching an average of $3 a gallon and Middle East strife escalating, it might seem like a bad time to encourage drivers to burn even more fuel. But speed limits on stretches of freeways around the country are rising -- just in time for summer road trips.

States around the country, including Texas and Michigan, have recently increased speed limits on hundreds of miles of interstate highways and freeways. Other states are expected to follow soon.

Near Detroit, drivers long confronted by signs telling them to go no more than 55 miles per hour or 65 mph are seeing new signs with 70 mph speed limits. By November, cruising at 70 mph will be allowed on nearly 200 miles of road, including parts of Interstate 75 and M-59, a major suburban route. Texas has begun erecting 80 mph signs along 521 miles of I-10 and I-20 in 10 rural western counties, giving them the highest speed limit in the U.S. In September, Virginia is likely to boost the speed limit on I-85 near the North Carolina border to 70 mph from 65 mph.

Driving faster may get people to their destinations more quickly, but it can also add to the rising cost of owning a car. The Department of Energy estimates that every five miles per hour a person drives above 60 mph costs an extra 20 cents a gallon, for a fuel-efficiency loss of 7% to 23%, depending on the type of car and gas. That's because higher speeds increase aerodynamic drag on a car, requiring more horsepower. Over a year, it costs roughly an additional $180 in gas to drive 75 mph instead of 60 mph, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, which promotes energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Bruce Jones, director of the Minnesota Center for Automotive Research at Minnesota State University in Mankato, calculates from federal data that driving 75 mph, rather than 65, would increase gas expenses by about $121 a year for a 2006 Pontiac G6 sedan and $217 for a Hummer.

But lawmakers in Texas, Michigan and other states say that raising speed limits will make roads safer by restoring credibility to speed-limit signs and making driving speeds more uniform. While transportation engineers acknowledge that raising speed limits hurts fuel efficiency, they contend that careful studies of traffic flow and driver behavior show that many speed limits are actually too low. Most drivers who exceed these low speed limits are doing it safely. "In Texas, they are already going [80 mph] anyway," says Carlos Lopez, director of traffic operations at the Texas Department of Transportation. "People are driving where they feel comfortable."

John Stinson, a home remodeler who lives in Mount Clemens, Mich., says the new 70 mph speed limit on the Van Dyke Expressway gives him an extra "cushion" during his commutes of as much as 200 miles throughout southeastern Michigan. "There won't be the slow people holding everyone up and the fast people weaving in and out," he says.

It has long been thought that higher speed limits lead to more road fatalities. But the link has been disputed. Many modern roads are built to accommodate vehicles moving at faster speeds, and many drivers are now protected by front and side airbags.

In 2005, the number of injuries per mile on the U.S. interstate-highway system fell to the lowest level since it was established by President Eisenhower in 1956, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. But Russ Retting, a senior transportation engineer at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research group funded by auto insurers, says fatality rates were 17% higher in states that raised speed limits from 1995 to 1999 than in states that didn't.

"It's difficult to generalize information out of all the noise," says Karl Zimmerman, an assistant research engineer at Texas Transportation Institute, part of Texas A&M University, adding that many crashes are caused by weather, driver inattentiveness and road conditions that aren't connected to speed limits.

Recent speed-limit increases in Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Texas are the latest in a string of jumps dating back to the 1995 repeal of the nationwide 55 mph speed limit, mandated by Congress in 1974. More than a dozen states quickly gave drivers the freedom to push the pedal closer to the metal, especially in Western and Midwestern states with less congestion, scattered populations and wide, straight interstates. A total of 31 states now have a maximum speed limit of at least 70 mph, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Shaunee Lynch, spokeswoman for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, says the state agency hopes that lawmakers will agree early next year to raise the speed limit to 70 mph from the current 65 mph to keep up with surrounding states that already let drivers go that fast. Drivers aren't happy when signs at the border warn them to slow down, she says.

In Louisiana, state Sen. Joe McPherson says he plans to revive his unsuccessful bill that would have raised the speed limit on Louisiana interstates to 75 mph from 70 mph and on limited-access freeways to 70 mph from 65 mph. "If 35 mph is more fuel-efficient than 55 mph, then why don't we all just drive 35 mph?" he says in response to fuel-efficiency critics.

State lawmakers typically set statewide speed limits, with transportation officials determining which stretches of roads can safely handle faster-moving traffic. It isn't clear if the urge to increase speed limits on interstates will trickle down to smaller roads and streets, usually controlled by local officials.

Speed limits for cars and trucks can vary, with Illinois restricting truck drivers to no more than 55 mph -- or 10 mph slower than the maximum interstate-highway speed for cars. A bid to increase the speed limit for trucks to 65 mph was vetoed by the Illinois governor in 2004. In Michigan, the speed limit for trucks will be raised to 65 mph by November -- but that still keeps them slower than cars.

It is too soon to tell whether some speed demons will see rising speed limits as an excuse to go even faster. But Michigan transportation officials are encouraged by the results of boosting the speed limit on Interstate 69 near Flint to 70 mph last August. When the speed limit was 55 mph, about 1.8% of all vehicles zipped along at more than 80 mph. That fell to 1% after the change.

it is about damn time...

That information is not accurate. All three vehicles i have owned get their BEST gas mileage right around 80mph. My 4 cylinder extended cab Tacoma gets 27mpg cruising at an indicated 80mph (at 3000rpms) with performance 245/45-16 tires - actual speed is more like 75mph though, my Integra got 35mpg cruising at 80-85mph (not sure of rpms), and my V6 Camaro gets around 31-32mpg cruising at 80mph.

Hopefully it's legal to drive 80mph through Hudspeth County now, because getting a ticket for going 80mph (in a 70mph zone) in the middle of west Texas desert is stupid. It's middle of nowhere yet has to be the strictest interstate enforcement in Texas! They even pull all traffic off to an inspection road for searches sometimes. Only ticket I have ever gotten...

Ya'men!

Wonder when Ohio will follow and whether the turnike will go to 75 or 80 mph?

it is about time, since I m loving driving over here in Europe with little to no speed limits, its awsome......However..Fuel is definatly an issue. on HWYS in the states I get 450 miles per tank, driving about 70-80 mph aprox. over here in Europe I am driving not less than 100 mph up to 170 mph usually averaging 115-120mph and my fuel went down to 250 miles per tank, which is a little over 2 hours, 2.5 hours I believe so granted I did knock about an 2 hours total off the trip IT WAS FUN AS HELL, So is that really worth a tank of gas....hmmmm How much do you spend on a race track for 2.5 hours including gas? And theres your answer. But do remember to drive safely as the Majority of you are not stationed in Europe and most people from the states would probable have a heart attack trying to drive overhere, Europeans getn into a car and they all for the most part should be called Mario. Thats why he is such a good driver, He's from Italy.

Im from Northern Va BTW Leesburg

You mean it's not already 80?

slowly but surely we will catch ze germans

gotta love the roads here

I mean Technically! wonder if the 10 mile rule will still apply?

From what I read, they said it won't. But that's what they said when it came back up from 55 too... It will be enforced for a while, then it will start sliding again, even though they don't want to say that now.

I highly doubt anything will change here in Colorado, but sure wish it would. I drove through Denver the other day on I-25 with a cop on my tail so I set the cruise at about 58 (55mph limit in town) and that was just painful. 5 lanes in each direction on the interstate in town and 55 mph just don't mix well. It just felt rediculously slow.