Texas Opens Fastest US Highway With 85 MPH Limit

Hugh Pickens writes "Most highways in the U.S. top out at 75 mph, while some highways in rural West Texas and Utah have 80 mph speed limits. All that is about to change as Texas opens a stretch of highway with the highest speed limit in the country, giving eager drivers a chance to rip through a trip between two of the state's largest metropolitan areas at 85 mph for a 41-mile toll road between Austin and San Antonio. While some drivers will want to test their horsepower and radar detectors, others are asking if safety is taking a backseat. A 2009 report in the American Journal of Public Health found that more than 12,500 deaths were attributable to increases in speed limits on all kinds of roads and that rural highways showed a 9.1 percent increase in fatalities on roads where speed limits were raised. 'If you're looking at an 85 mph speed limit, we could possibly see drivers going 95 up to 100 miles per hour,' says Sandra Helin, president of the Southwestern Insurance Information Service. 'When you get to those speeds, your accidents are going to be a lot worse. You're going to have a lot more fatalities.'"

Comments

Nothing new

[orthancstone]

"We could possibly see drivers going 95 up to 100 miles per hour."

Hate to break it to Sandra, but that's the usual speed in many parts of Texas.

Re:Nothing new

[Jeng]

Hate to break it to Sandra, but that's the usual speed in many parts of Texas.

As well as Wyoming, only state where I have been passed while going over 100mph.

Re:Nothing new

[Megane]

And...
1: it's a toll road, which reduces traffic from the start
2: it's a toll road, so there are fewer entrances and exits
3: it's RFID toll tag or pay-by-mail (using license plate recognition cameras) ONLY, and existing toll booths on the north half will be removed, further reducing obstacles
4: not only is it a divided highway (or "dual carriageway" as they say on the other side of the pond), but
5: it's being built with a concrete surface, not asphalt (all the toll roads around Austin have been concrete) so you won't have potholes
6: it completely bypasses the Austin metro area and the overloaded San Antonio to Austin I-35 route, even avoiding small towns (part of the point, since this would have been the route for the now-defunct TTC project)

Even on the overloaded San Antonio to Austin section of I-35, traffic often goes 75-85mph when traffic is light.

Re:Nothing new

[Austerity Empowers]

Well I drive on this road all the time, it's practically deserted because the locals, who refused to fund it with taxes (red state - taxes are just for crack mothers and layabouts, not for roads and shit), are in some sort of quasi-rebellion against the overseas interest who owns the road and put the toll system in place. 85 feels very slow, just the comparatively short run between the Austin airport and round rock feels like you're in the middle of nowhere and may not even see a car much less pass one. Only complete pussies ever drove below 80 on this road, even when the speed limit was 65. Now I expect to see 90-95, but with the exception below, it's straight, wide and open. There isn't a much safer place to go fast that close to a major city.

Unfortunately as all the toll road speed limits have gone up, more and more people are out seemingly in protest, driving side by side way lower than the speed limit. We don't have a right lane for passing only law here, so you're stuck with them. So it may be 85 mph, but in practice you're stuck with the slowest person on the road.

Re:Nothing new

[Brooklynoid]

You said: If there were no speedlimit people would, for the most part, drive INCREDIBLY riskily.

Research indicates that this is not the case. In areas where speed limits are not enforced, civil engineers find that 85% of motorists drive at what most would call a prudent speed. In fact, in many municipalities, speed limits for a given road are determined by observing traffic and determining the limit based on the 85 percentile speed (assuming, of course, that generating revenue from speeding fines is not part of the equation). Google "85 percentile traffic speed" if you're interested.

Re:Rest of the world already ahead

[repvik]

And autobahn is one of the safest highways as well:

Traffic zooms by on the German autobahn at 120 mph. The speed-limitless highway system stretches 6,800 miles and the Federal Ministry of Transport has declared the autobahn to be one of the safest road systems in the world despite the roaring, high speeds. US highways, on the other hand, rank as one of the most dangerous where speed limits range from 55 to 75 mph. Strict laws are believed to be the prominent reason the autobahn is safer than US highways.

http://www.ehow.com/about_6726960_autobahn-safety-vs_-interstate-safety.html

Re:There's nothing Darwin about it.

[Carewolf]

The other point is people regularly drive over the speed limit, regardless of the speed. SO when you are doibng 85, some a hole is doing 120. Drive at 120 is different the 65 and 85. Wind and air pressure at 120 can cause you to lose control.

A car going past you at 120mph is not going to give you nearly as much turbulence as overtaking a truck doing 60mph. In fact one of the reasons a fast car can go 120mph is because it doesn't cause a lot of turbulence. It can be a bit of a shock to be overtaken by someone going 150mph, when you are already going 100mph in Germany, but beyond the surprise it is not affecting you.