first road in the country to have a posted 85 mile per hour speed limit since speeds went 55

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**Frazzled**

Happily I pass this road on the way back to Austin. I may be tempted to take it. WeeeeHAAAAA!!!!
(so by Texas rules everyone must now drive 95 with pickup drivers doing 100)

http://radio.woai.com/cc-common/mainheadlines3.html?feed=119078&article=10180726

85 Mile Per Hour Speed Limit Seen on State Highway 130
Toll road two thirds completed runs from I-10 east of San Antonio to Georgetown, north of Austin

The Texas Department of Transportation said today a toll road being built from San Antonio to north of Austin could be the first road in the country to have a posted 85 mile per hour speed limit.

"It was designed under extremely high design parameters," said Darren McDaniel, the Speed Management Director for the department, which builds and manages all Texas highways.

The highway, called State Highway 130, is being built to take traffic loads off of the heavily overcrowded Interstate 35 between San Antonio and north of Austin, a stretch which is one of the most congested in the country. Most of the highway is built, and posted at 80 miles per hour, and the remainder is set to be opened before the end of this year.

"We'll definitely take a look at that stretch, and we will conduct speed studies to see what that speed limit will be," he said.

The Texas Legislature last year passed a law that allowed speed limits of up to 85 miles per hour on newly constructed highways which were determined to be safe enough to allow that speed.

Currently, Texas and Utah are the only two states which allow speed limits of 80 miles per hour, and the 85 mile an hour speed limit would be the fastest in the Western Hemisphere and the second highest in the world, according to Rhino Car Hire, a European car rental company. It says a speed of 140 kilometers per hour, or about 86 mph, is posted on some roads in Poland.

Critics say higher speed limits will lead to more fatal accidents, but McDaniel says the safest roads are the roads where all motorists are traveling the same speed.

"The more people we can get to travel a uniform speed, the safer are the conditions that will exist," he told 1200 WOAI's Michael Board.

Texas currently allows motorists to travel 80 miles per hour on Interstates 10 and 20 in far west Texas. State Highway 130 runs through a more populated area, but it is new and relatively free of cars, and officials hope posting 85 mile an hour speed limits will attract more motorists to the toll road, lessening congestion on the Interstate.

Read more: http://radio.woai.com/cc-common/mainheadlines3.html?feed=119078&article=10180726#ixzz1x73Pncdq

**sirlynchmob**

Montana beat you to it though, they didn't post any speed limit, so you can go faster than 85.

**Frazzled**

sirlynchmob wrote:Montana beat you to it though, they didn't post any speed limit, so you can go faster than 85.

Interesting. I remember when there were large portions of I10 that were 100 mph in the Nevada desert.

**AustonT**

sirlynchmob wrote:Montana beat you to it though, they didn't post any speed limit, so you can go faster than 85.

There is a posted speed limit now, and MTHP was enforcing 75 as "Reasonable and Prudent" before they put up the signs.

**Witzkatz**

*Smug grin*

**Frazzled**

Smug grin? Que?
EDIT: Looked up Lubeck. Och Germany yes, The Dachshund Motherland.

We bow to your Autobahn greatness!

**Witzkatz**

Now, dachshunds on the Autobahn...that's an intriguing idea!

**sirlynchmob**

AustonT wrote:
sirlynchmob wrote:Montana beat you to it though, they didn't post any speed limit, so you can go faster than 85.

There is a posted speed limit now, and MTHP was enforcing 75 as "Reasonable and Prudent" before they put up the signs.

What a bunch of sell outs.

I came across this though:
http://www.motorists.org/press/montana-no-speed-limit-safety-paradox

"MONTANA PARADOX: Is that the desired safety effect from posting speed limits was achieved by removing them. "

**Frazzled**

Witzkatz wrote:Now, dachshunds on the Autobahn...that's an intriguing idea!

Imagine a shorthaired wiener dog calmly cruising the Autobahn to Bonn in a nice VW GTI, with the windows down and its incredibly long ears flapping...

**AustonT**

sirlynchmob wrote:
AustonT wrote:
sirlynchmob wrote:Montana beat you to it though, they didn't post any speed limit, so you can go faster than 85.

There is a posted speed limit now, and MTHP was enforcing 75 as "Reasonable and Prudent" before they put up the signs.

What a bunch of sell outs.

I came across this though:
http://www.motorists.org/press/montana-no-speed-limit-safety-paradox

"MONTANA PARADOX: Is that the desired safety effect from posting speed limits was achieved by removing them. "

Hmmph. That's an interesting article. They should really mention the number of fatalities per number of residents though; MT went through a population boom during the turn of the century. That may be a contributing factor. There's also a lot of major interstate construction WHERE that's happening can also mitigate the risks on the road if say the dangerous parts are in a general slow down they are safer or go the other way and dangerous parts are more dangerous under construction. There are over 13,000 miles of state and interstate highways in MT IIRC it seems like that might have an extra zero...then again maybe not (its from a movie I watched over a decade ago, I've got a good memory but it's not perfect.)
Anyway I liked the "Reasonable and Prudent" days. People drove what they felt they should, for most people that was 55-75; I remember a dirt track race car guy was pulled over doing over 100 3 times in the first month, he became a sort of poster child for the people who wanted posted limits. It was a tumultuous time in Montana politics and I think certain members of the state legislature used the roads issues to eclipse the sale of the dams...so yes they were sell outs but for different reasons.
(sorry being distracted by Jeb Bush sounding like a real Republican on TV)

**treadhead1944**

IIRC before Montana took down the speed limit signs if you got popped for speeding, all you got was a $5 ticket for abuse of natural resources, no points, payable on the spot. True? Or faulty memory?

**AustonT**

treadhead1944 wrote:IIRC before Montana took down the speed limit signs if you got popped for speeding, all you got was a $5 ticket for abuse of natural resources, no points, payable on the spot. True? Or faulty memory?

Not an official policy, but in my experience yes. I've never slowed down for a garnet car in my life.

**treadhead1944**

AustonT wrote:
treadhead1944 wrote:IIRC before Montana took down the speed limit signs if you got popped for speeding, all you got was a $5 ticket for abuse of natural resources, no points, payable on the spot. True? Or faulty memory?

Not an official policy, but in my experience yes. I've never slowed down for a garnet car in my life.

You should see the tire smoke and glowing rotors when I see a royal blue car...

**AustonT**

treadhead1944 wrote:
AustonT wrote:
treadhead1944 wrote:IIRC before Montana took down the speed limit signs if you got popped for speeding, all you got was a $5 ticket for abuse of natural resources, no points, payable on the spot. True? Or faulty memory?

Not an official policy, but in my experience yes. I've never slowed down for a garnet car in my life.
You should see the tire smoke and glowing rotors when I see a royal blue car...

Took my wife up to Montana a couple years ago and we were driving between my cabin and my Dad's house and from a few miles off I pointed to a car ahead and said," see that reddish glow coming off that car? That's the garnet paint the HP uses."
"Shouldn't you slow down?"
"For why I'm only doing 90."