At 85 mph, Texas could have highest speed limits in the nation

[sonias]

AAS 4/7/11
At 85 mph, Texas could have highest speed limits in the nation

It's long been said that everything's bigger in Texas. Maybe faster, too, under legislation approved by the Texas House that would allow the speed limit on some highways to be raised to 85 mph, which would be the highest in the nation.

The measure passed Wednesday on a voice vote was part of a larger transportation bill. It would authorize the Texas Department of Transportation to raise the speed limit on designated lanes or entire stretches of roadway after doing engineering and traffic studies, the Dallas Morning News reported Thursday.

The Senate is considering a similar bill.

"They have high-speed roadways in Europe, and there could be some merit in having some of those highways in Texas," said Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, who introduced the bill. "Given the right engineering, we should consider it."

Texas currently has more than 520 miles of interstate highways where the speed limit is 80 mph.

Cue "I can't drive 55"
YouTube video
:headbang:

The important business of the Texas Lege! :eyes:

[thanks_imjustlurking]

1. Really. This will raise so much revenue and create so many jobs. nt

[sonias]

2. Really why wasn't this one of Perry's emergency items?

It is about as shallow on the importance scale as his whole agenda.

:shrug:

[thanks_imjustlurking]

8. God I miss Molly. nt

[hobbit709]

3. Are they going to bring TX roads up to autobahn standards?

You get a smoother ride at 150 on the autobahn than you do at 60 here. Of course the road costs a bit more to build so I don't see our "Fearless Leader" types doing that.

[sonias]

4. Exactly

They do everything on the cheap. They want world class universities but won't fund new tier one universities, much less maintain the ones they have at that status.

They claim they want a quality education for Texas children but they've cut enough money from them to starve them.

They now how to rule as dictators but they don't know how to lead. :(

[kentauros]

5. Combined with the stupidest drivers in the nation,

what could possibly go wrong?

[sonias]

6. "stupidest drivers in the nation"

We're number one again!

Race to the bottom at the brand new speed of 85 MPH, which of course everybody breaks by another 5 or so MPH. :eyes:

[kentauros]

9. I don't know if you've been reading the thread in GD

but a lot of members seem to be of the opinion that it will be "like the Autobahn." No, it won't. The difference between Texas drivers and European drivers is literally like night and day. Unless you're talking about racetracks, I can't think of any roadway in the whole country that is built to the same standards as the Autobahn.

And then there's the major problem we have with unsecured loads. I don't know what it is about Texas drivers, but other than being some of the worst out there, they also seem to not know what a rope is, or what it's used for. I really can't imagine what it will be like for some of them when the open-air pickup in front of them loses a wooden chair at 85+! :wow:

Here's that GD thread and some video of Houston drivers in action around the light rail :o

[sonias]

10. Thanks for the link

And you know quite a lot of Texans do drive pick-ups with quite a bit of cargo in their truck bed.

:kick:

[plumbob]

7. The only place with a higher speed limit is Poland!

http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-national/85-mph-speed-limit-approved

The only higher speed limit in the world is in Poland where some roadways are 140 kilometers per hour which equates to 86 miles per hour. Eighty-five miles per hour would be the second highest posted speed limit in the United States.



I can see the new motto for Texas now on bumper stickers: "Nearly as swift as Poland!"


:woohoo:

[Bucky]

12. Is that a blitzkrieg joke?

[Jack_DeLeon]

11. Sounds good to me...

75-85MPH are already the defacto speeds on highways when possible.

I have no problem with it being made legal in rural areas.

[Bucky]

13. context

[kentauros]

14. This is a point I TRIED to get people to recognize, over and over.

But because their vehicle "can handle high speeds" then supposedly their own skills at handling their vehicle magically improve to match. And none seemed to want to address the problem we have with lost loads, animals and general debris all too often.

Now, I recently read that this 85 mph speed is for one specific road, that tollway out to the east of Austin. I can't remember the number, but the legislator that created this speed-increase means it to be akin to a stake in the heart of the Trans-Texas Corridor, finally killing it to where it can't come back. I think it was an op-ed piece on the Statesman page, so you might find more there.

[sonias]

15. SH-130 toll road

Here is the article you were referencing:

AAS 4/17/11

85 mph flap much ado about Texas 130

(snip)

What the House did — and who knows if the Senate and Gov. Rick Perry will go along in the coming weeks? — was allow the possibility of an 85 mph speed limit on what amounts to one road. Which isn't open yet. And, oh, by the way, Texas law already allowed that speed on that road.

That highway, it's worth knowing, is here in Central Texas: the southern 40 miles of Texas 130, which has been under construction for a couple of years between Mustang Ridge and Seguin and should open in late 2012.

Actually, the real purpose of the legislation that started all this — House Bill 1201, by Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham — is to drive a final stake into the already inert heart of the Trans-Texas Corridor. The governor, the Texas Department of Transportation and the facts on the ground already have made it obvious that Perry's one-time plan for 4,000 miles of tollways, railroads and utility lines is deader than disco.

Multiple references to the corridor plan still exist in state law, though, and Kolkhorst, who represents an area that was a hotbed of opposition to Perry's corridor brainchild, wants that language gone. But those statutes also include authorization to slap an 85 mph speed limit on any Trans-Texas Corridor road, and officials assumed all along that the new portion of Texas 130 would be designated a part of the corridor.

[plumbob]

16. Hell, why stop at 85? 90? anybody? 95? 100? 180? 300? Bueller?

Bueller?