State to Raise Speed Limit to 85 MPH

[Mark]

Can't drive 55? … 65? … 75? How about 85?
A stretch of Texas highway may soon be the first road in the country to have a posted 85 mph speed limit.
The Texas Department of Transportation said this week that part of a toll road being built between Austin and San Antonio will be tested to see if motorists can safely push it to 85.
"It was designed under extremely high design parameters," Darren McDaniel, the state's Speed Management Director told WOAI radio.
Texas and Utah are the only states with 80-mph limits on some roadways. But Texas turned heads when lawmakers gave the green light to go to 85 if needed.
"The higher the speed limit, the more accidents there are, the more injuries and the more deaths," Jerry Johns, president of the Southwest Insurance Information Institute, told Reuters last year.
Eighty-five mph would be the second-highest posted speed limit in the world, according to the European auto rental firm Rhino Car Hire, Reuters reported. Some roads in Poland reportedly allow speeds of about 86 mph.
Texas hopes the faster toll road will help relieve one of the country's most congested interstates, between Austin and San Antonio.
"It's in a straight, flat area," TxDOT spokesman Mark Cross told Yahoo. "Safety is a priority. We want to make sure people understand that." source

[EpicWin]

[Josef]

I thought I remember hearing that there are some stretches of highway, out West, where there are no posted speed limits? I guess I heard wrong?

[motherof3]

Doesn't matter I guarantee I'd STILL get a speeding ticket...........damn lead foot!!!

[longnecker]

Straight well maintained road why not? Only problem is if it is posted at 85 folks will think anything under 100 is ok before they get a ticket.

[Crabby]

Several states including Texas, OK, Nebraska and Kansas used to have areas of "safe and prudent zones." Heaven help you if an animal darted out! Federal mandate years ago changed that.The speed limit may be quite high, but there must be one.

[Spyder08]

I think they should raise some speed limits around here. I think I95 should be 65. What's up with the small stretch of Rt 1? You come around the bend at the 1/13 split and you drop from 65 to 55. I think it should be increased...well maybe after they are finished with all the construction (which will hopefully fix the clusterf*&$ that they created).