Texas Considering Upping Highway Speed Limit To 85 mph

The Texas House of Representatives recently approved a bill that would raise the speed limit to 85 mph on some of the state’s highways. The bill now goes to the state Senate. If passed, Texas will have the highest speed limit in the U.S.

Texas currently has more than 520 miles of interstate highways where the speed limit is 80 mph, according to the Associated Press. The bill would allow the Texas Department of Transportation to raise the speed limit on certain roads or lanes after engineering and traffic studies are conducted. The 85 mph maximum would likely be permitted on rural roads with long sightlines.

The Texas Department of Transportation said the change probably wouldn’t come quickly, in part because of an amendment in the bill that says the higher limit will apply only to new road construction. Texas currently has about 3,000 miles of road under construction, more than 600 of which is interstate highway.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety noted the historical link between higher speed limits and rising highway fatality rates. The safety-research group, which is funded by the insurance industry, said its studies have shown that deaths on rural interstates increased 25% to 30% when states began increasing speed limits from 55 to 65 mph in 1987. In 1989, about two-thirds of this increase was attributed to increased speed, the rest to increased travel.

Supporters of the bill say that driving the state’s vast expanses of straight, rural highways, where other cars are few and far between, make it ideal for the speed limit increase, allowing drivers to cruise along without the risk of getting a ticket. ◆