Good news for Texas leadfoots. The speed limit soon will be increasing on nearly 1,500 miles of highway - although motorists are strongly encouraged to obey the old speed limit until they see the new signs.
“The new speed limit is not official until the signs go up,” said Carol Rawson, Texas Department of Transportation traffic operations director.
Highways will be posted for 75 mph in 60 counties after the Texas Transportation Commission on Thursday approved the change. The decision came after speed studies were conducted on the roads, where the current posted speed limit is 70 mph.
Where will the new speed limits be posted?
- Interstate 10 — 289 miles across the counties of El Paso, Gillespie, Kerr, Kendall, Bexar, Guadalupe, Caldwell, Gonzales, Fayette, Colorado, Austin, Jefferson and Orange.
- Interstate 20 — 423 miles across the counties of Crane, Ector, Midland, Martin, Howard, Mitchell, Nolan, Taylor, Callahan, Eastland, Erath, Palo Pinto, Van Zandt, Smith, Gregg and Harrison.
- Interstate 27 — 109 miles across the counties of Lubbock, Hale, Swisher and Randall.
- Interstate 30 — 139 miles across the counties of Hunt, Hopkins, Franklin, Titus, Morris and Bowie.
- Interstate 35 — 106 miles across the counties of Webb, Medina, Atascosa, Bexar, Hill and Cooke.
- Interstate 37 — 130 miles across the counties of Nueces, San Patricio, Live Oak, Atascosa and Bexar.
- Interstate 40 — 166 miles across the counties of Deaf Smith, Oldham, Potter, Carson, Gray, Donley and Wheeler.
- Interstate 44 — 11 miles across Wichita County.
- Interstate 45 — 143 miles across the counties of Walker, Madison, Leon, Freestone and Navarro.
Four other highways in Central Texas got the new speed limit late last year. Once all the signs are up, there will be total of 3,063 miles of highway in Texas with a 75 mph speed limit.
And, of course, Texas is famous (safety advocates might say infamous) for its 80 mph speed limit on 521 miles of Interstates 10 and 20 in west Texas.
That's a grand total of 3,584 miles of road in which the speed limit is 75 or greater.
@gdickson
With gas prices over 3 dollars a gallon, and vehicles use more per mile the faster they drive. Who decided this was good for the families economy? Stupid, I will continue to "plug" along at 60 where I get 37 a gallon...55 on 60 mph roads where I top past 40mpg.
Posted by: Larry D. | January 26, 2012 at 06:44 PM
The amount of gas savings is negligible. Get over yourself and make sure to get over into the right lane.
Posted by: xpo172 | January 26, 2012 at 07:36 PM
On average, new cars are 24% less efficient at 75mph as compared to 55mph. If you drive a brand new Ford F150 30 miles (roundtrip) a day on your commute you would enjoy a 2800 dollar savings in the course of a year. That's a negligible number in my world.
(http://mpgforspeed.com/)
Posted by: listenermark | January 26, 2012 at 08:03 PM
Lead foot? 75 MPH is the speed in New Mexico and toll roads in Oklahoma. Too bad it is not on all major highways.
Posted by: David Glasgow | January 26, 2012 at 08:13 PM
So all those people who got tickets in the past with the police arguing its a public safety issue was really just a scam to raise revenue.
99% of speeding tickets have never been about public safety. It has always been about revenue.
Posted by: anonymous | January 26, 2012 at 08:16 PM