TX: 85 mph speed limit

Texas to open 85 mph toll highway

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/06/13705669-85-mph-texas-to-open-toll-highway-with-fastest-speed-limit-in-nation?lite

Everything is bigger in Texas, even the speed limit.

Oh when there's tax money to be had by allowing a higher speed limit then it's safe...

Meh. If they raised the speed limit to 85 here in Michigan, it would just mean most people are only going 5mph or so over the limit.

The speed limit is already 85 for hundreds of miles in the west side of the state. It was 80 and then they recently upped it to 85. Those of you who live in those itty bitty states just can't grasp how big Texas is.

In west Texas you can drive for miles and miles and miles and not see anything larger than a jack rabbit.

According to Bowman, higher speeds can actually increase highway safety by letting traffic flow at is own rate, reducing conflicts between vehicles, less stopping and starting, and fewer quick lane changes.

This honestly does not make a lot of sense. With a higher speed limit you are more likely to have a higher variation of speeds which equals conflicts and definitely increases "quick lane changes"

Not sure how stopping and starting is even remotely relevant here.

"Man... I would have been here quicker, but I was in stop an go traffic. If only the speed limit was higher, that would have made all the difference"

carguy123 wrote: The speed limit is already 85 for hundreds of miles in the west side of the state. It was 80 and then they recently upped it to 85. Those of you who live in those itty bitty states just can't grasp how big Texas is. In west Texas you can drive for miles and miles and miles and not see anything larger than a jack rabbit.

QFT!! I live in Brownwood, TX. Small town in the damn center of the state. We drive to Carlsbad, NM every Christmas to the in-law's place. It's a 6 hour drive and 4.5hrs is Texas. I have family in Alabama, it's a 13 hr drive from Austin to Birmingham. Halfway point is Meridian Mississippi. Most of the trip is Texas. It's really a huge state.

Yes, Texas is big. I grew up in Houston and my extended family lives in Alabama. I have driven on I10 many a times. This is one of the signs when you come into Texas from Louisiana on I10.

Edit: I am pretty sure the first mile marker is in the 900s

I recall going from Mississippi to New Mexico one summer. It seemed like the sun never set. Saw some amazing storms coming back, however.

aircooled wrote:

According to Bowman, higher speeds can actually increase highway safety by letting traffic flow at is own rate, reducing conflicts between vehicles, less stopping and starting, and fewer quick lane changes.

This honestly does not make a lot of sense. With a higher speed limit you are more likely to have a higher variation of speeds which equals conflicts and definitely increases "quick lane changes"

Here in Ontario where the limits are, in my opinion, dangerously under-posted at 100 km/h (60 mph!) you get a huge variation in speed. You'll be keeping up with traffic at a reasonably sensible 130 (80 mph), yuppies in a hurry will be passing you (safely) at 140-150 and then suddenly you'll run into a "speed limit vigilante" going exactly 100 in the left or (even worse!) middle lane. Then you all have to slam on the brakes, weave around the twit, then repeat. It's terrible.

If Texas was in Canada, it would be the something like the fifth-largest province. It's not THAT big

But I can certainly understand the desire to get out of north Texas as fast as possible.

Keith Tanner wrote: If Texas was in Canada, it would be the something like the fifth-largest province. It's not THAT big But I can certainly understand the desire to get out of west Texas as fast as possible.

FTFY.

God, west Texas... ugh.

Oh and it is way less cool than the smallest province in Canada, both literally and figuratively.

carguy123 wrote: The speed limit is already 85 for hundreds of miles in the west side of the state. It was 80 and then they recently upped it to 85. Those of you who live in those itty bitty states just can't grasp how big Texas is. In west Texas you can drive for miles and miles and miles and not see anything larger than a jack rabbit.

when i was in Texas in June, it took a full day of solid driving (just over 9 hours) to get from Corpus Christi to Durant, Oklahoma.. it's a beautiful state with a lot to see, but damn, we just wanted to get out of that state before we found a hotel for the night.. and most of the time (when we weren't crawling at 15mph thru Austin...) we were driving 85mph and getting passed by semi trucks, so this new speed limit means nothing..

Texas miles are 4-6x Midwestern miles. I drove from Chicago to Atlanta once and crossed 4 whole states! It was unreal. It may of been a 1000 mile trip but in Texas that somehow would of been more impressive.

Going thru Mississippi on I10 is a berkeleying joke compared to Texas. I think I have had farts longer than that.

Keith Tanner wrote: But I can certainly understand the desire to get out of any part of Texas as fast as possible.

Now completely fixed.

I have visited Texas on a regular basis for well over a decade.

New York folks get grief for their attitude that Manhattan is the center of the universe. Folks in Texas are similarly afflicted, with far less justification for their superiority complex.

Next time Texas threatens to succeed, I say we trade for Puerto Rico and a player to be named later.

Keith Tanner wrote: But I can certainly understand the desire to get out of north Texas as fast as possible.

I used to like Amarillo

aircooled wrote: This honestly does not make a lot of sense. With a higher speed limit you are more likely to have a higher variation of speeds which equals conflicts and definitely increases "quick lane changes"

Agreed.

I drove through TX on I10 a few months back. Set the cruise at roughly 90mph. Much of the car traffic was still only doing 75-80, and some truck traffic was doing 55-60. Luckily it was mostly empty, but if the road were even remotely crowded, I could see this causing problems.

I'm really surprised that we don't see another national trend to lower limits again to save fuel.

aircooled wrote: This honestly does not make a lot of sense. With a higher speed limit you are more likely to have a higher variation of speeds which equals conflicts and definitely increases "quick lane changes"

What is generally found when the speed limit is increased is that the slower traffic moves faster while the faster traffic does not.

Ohio recently inched the Turnpike up from 65 to 70mph. What happened was, the cars' average speed went up by only 2mph because the slower cars are now going faster, and the trucks' average speed went up something like 4mph. In practice, there's now very little passing anymore, everyone is driving the same speed.

In Michigan, the limits are set primarily by how E36 M3ty the road is. Rural roads and 2 lane highways are about 65mph, the 4 lane+ highways are good for 85+. Coming home today I wasn't paying enough attention during a pass downhill, I looked down and realized I was doing 104mph, I was not coming up on the cars in front me very quickly.

Keith Tanner wrote: If Texas was in Canada, it would be the something like the fifth-largest province. It's not THAT big

Texas is still the biggest state that's all thawed out.

bludroptop wrote: Next time Texas threatens to succeed, I say we trade for Puerto Rico and a player to be named later.

That would be completely agreeable with us.

We've got cities bigger than some of them little northern ones!

Knurled wrote:

aircooled wrote: This honestly does not make a lot of sense. With a higher speed limit you are more likely to have a higher variation of speeds which equals conflicts and definitely increases "quick lane changes"

What is generally found when the speed limit is increased is that the slower traffic moves faster while the faster traffic does not. Ohio recently inched the Turnpike up from 65 to 70mph. What happened was, the cars' average speed went up by only 2mph because the slower cars are now going faster, and the trucks' average speed went up something like 4mph. In practice, there's now very little passing anymore, everyone is driving the same speed.

Essentially you have three classes of drivers as far as speed limits are concerned:

1) Those who do basically the speed limit or under

2) Those who drive what they feel to be a reasonable speed as long as it's not too far over the limit.

3) Those who always do X over the limit.

Raising the speed limit tends to bring the speeds of groups 1 and 2 (and possibly 2 and 3 depending on where that "reasonable" speed fits in with the limits) closer together while leaving the speed differential between group 1 and 3 pretty close to the same as before.

The net results is higher speeds and less variation in speed under most circumstances.

aircooled wrote:

According to Bowman, higher speeds can actually increase highway safety by letting traffic flow at is own rate, reducing conflicts between vehicles, less stopping and starting, and fewer quick lane changes.

This honestly does not make a lot of sense. With a higher speed limit you are more likely to have a higher variation of speeds which equals conflicts and definitely increases "quick lane changes"

It may not make sense, but it is a proven fact. Higher speed limits tend to make slightly greater variations between the slowest and the fastest car. This has been shown to decrease traffic congestion at a greater rate than it increases collisions and injuries.

The true bottom line is that cars these days are capable of safely moving much faster than 50 years ago. The speed limit is a function of the above phenomenon combined with tax revenue, violation penalty income, actual fact, debatable discourse during the legislation proceedings, moon phase, who paid off whom....

kazoospec wrote: Meh. If they raised the speed limit to 85 here in Michigan, it would just mean most people are only going 5mph or so over the limit.

I just drove from Chicago to Detroit and back on Wednesday and easily drove 79-85mph thru Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. On I80 in Illinois; I80 means 80mph.

I told the wife's family about the Texas 85mph road last night and they acted all upset; "Ooooooohhh, that's too fast". Really? Most of us driving across Michigan on Wednesday were driving.......