Texas Highway Could Be First in Nation With 85 MPH Speed Limit

Cool.

fix some of the roads first.

Yey! Leave it to Texas to be first to realize the desires of the citizens.

I live in Tennessee, where we try to also.

So much for fuel shortages, eh?

Damn the price of gas! Full speed ahead, Mr. Sulu!

if a person drive reckless at 65, they will also be reckless at 85!

If one drives carefully at 65, they will also be careful at 85...
The difference between a professional and a none is all in the attitude .

Like your thinking. As always, there's a but.

We all think we're above average drivers - the others are the baddies, right? While we may be capable and have the right attitude @65mph, physiologically our reaction times as we get older may not hack it @85 mph when the brown hits.2 cents.

I remember when they would drop the speed limit just to save gas....The speed around Pecos Texas is already @80.

GOTTA LOVE IT

Remind me Autobahn in Germany. Where you can floor the pedal without looking back.

I don't see any big deal unless you get your rocks off driving fast. Driving 100 miles at 85 MPH verses 100 miles at 70 MPH will save you about 15 minutes and with most cars burn a whole bunch more gas. Plus if you would get in an accident doing 85 verses 70 I would imagine the odds would drop a fair amount for surviving it.

Darn they would wait until I finally listened to my wife and slowed down to a maximum of 70MPH no matter what the speed limit. And yes I do drive in the slow lane and use the fast lane for passing only.

I just wish more people would use their cruise control. I hate nothing worse than having to pass somebody 3 or 4 time in less than a few miles because they cannot drive a steady speed.

I seem to remember driving through Las Vegas to LA and the only highway speed sign I saw when leaving was "Resume Speed". So I did my usual 72mph in a '60 Oldsmobile.

cruise control is a wonderful accessory

Fix the NJ pot holes - please!

Including speed limits.

If it's the I-10, it should be unlimited. Nothing to run into...

Any NY too!

Someone got to be responsible for not maintaining the roads and drivers end up with blown tires and bent wheels.

Ash you stated
A person drive reckless at 65, they will also be reckless at 85
I guess it will mean there will be less reckless prople as they will have more fatal accidents thus reducing their numbers.
Now if they could do something about the Slooooow drivers.

If the speed limit is 85 you can bet most will be doing 90+. Us old folks can remember the gas shortage days (early 70s) when the national speed limit was 55mph. The intent was to save gas. A side benefit was the lowest traffic fatality rate in years. The problem with letting the idiot drivers kill themselves is that they usually take others out with them.

Do it correctly too!

Um.... I seem to recall the TPS group will allow a max of about +4 MPH before they cite you... so at 89 you're likely ok, but at 90 you'll get lit up.

I admit that years ago I would have thought this was the coolest thing. Now, I have mixed feelings but am still for it.

It's quite common for people to reach those speeds here in Chicago, although the posted limit is 55. Most outrageous transgression ever was a guy they got on Lake Shore drive about 10 years ago on a motorcycle-cops clocked him at 120 over the limit in a 40 zone.

They could probably do this safely with the amount of open and straight roads that they have in the state.

My car just starts cruising at 85 mph. This is a good speed, but will be hard to implement nationally. There are too many people who think that 85 is speeding.

"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."

I don't think that's accurate. It might be correct to say they would be the only current road in the country with a posted 85 mile per hour speed limit, but the first? I could be wrong (it would be the first time in many years, though that I'd been wrong), but it seems to me we had other interstate highways in several states--Montana, Nevada, among them??--with speed limits of 85 and 90 mph years ago.

I believe Montana had "Reasonable and Prudent" for a short period of time.

Here in SoCal the average *speed* is around 85, never mind the limit!

only means people will be going 95 now.

Funny you mention "reasonable and prudent." My Dad told me about my grandfather getting a ticket, not sure which state, for doing 130 in his Chrysler 300C. Would have had to be before 1962 when he died. Guess 130 wasn't reasonable enough.

One has to wonder how many vehicles are actually fit to be driven at those sustained speeds?

Probably all the German vehicles are capable but I’m not sure if the ones they export to us are engineered to same rigorous standards as the ones that normally drive on the autobahn

Can you imagine driving 85 MPH through DEER COUNTRY at night? An absolutely crazy idea!

They already do that here in southeastern, PA. Folks on I-95 think the speed limit is 95.

I would agree with your concerns if we were talking about 120 MPH, but 85???

But a majority of drivers, never.

We all talk about the unlimited speeds on autobahns and the Italian Autostradas but how many know or even realize that drivers are severely penalized if their vehicle fails to meet the technical requirements for driving at high speed? The German police will stop cars and inspect them to insure the tires have the correct speed rating and there is sufficient tread to handle any necessary maneuvers. Drivers there know the penalties for not meeting the requirements and adjust accordingly. That doesn't match the needed skills, but at least the equipment is capable of running at that speed.

My tires are marked for temperature, traction & treadwear, but not speed. A few years ago heavy truck tires had a speed rating of 70 max. Now most truck tires have speed rating of 75.

But all tires have a speed rating.

Q Up to 100mph
R Up to 106mph
S Up to 112mph
T Up to 118mph
U Up to 124mph
H Up to 130mph
V Up to 149mph
W Up to 168mph
Y Up to 186mph
Z 149mph and over

S and T being the most common.

1. Most of the German autobahn is covered by cameras

2. There are strict fines and enforcement on following too close and making gestures to other drivers. The fines are determined by the violators income.

3. The road is maintained extremely well. Divers have to have first aid training. Tires have to be inspected, etc, etc

4. Thanks to the Green Party, the speed limit in many parts are no longer unlimited, and maybe soon all of it will.

State maximum speeds are 85 in Arizona. On I10 between Phoenix and Tucson they boosted the speed limits to 85 quite a few years back and then lowered them to 55 for a while and now they are back up to 75. We had a lot fewer people dying on that stretch of road when they were 55. It is a very dangerous and deadly stretch of road now and I avoid it as much as possible.

"In several other states, there is a state absolute maximum speed and only limits below that are prima facie limits. State maximum speeds are 85 in Arizona, 75 in Colorado, 65 in New Hampshire and on freeways in California (unless posted 70) and Ohio, and 55 in Connecticut (unless posted 65), on two lane roads in California (unless posted higher), and on non-freeways in Ohio."

Look down towards the bottom of the page for the above quote:

http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/laws.html

The question was:
driven at those sustained speeds?

I witnessed couple of Toyota average 180 mph just last Sunday. They did this for over 3 hours. And 2 Chevys were right behind them.

Where were you? Sitting in the stands?

Nope, I picked up to many bodies to support more speed. 70 does just fine for this ole goat, I will just be in the slow lane and watch you guys go by. Have a good and SAFE ride.

When driving through rural west Texas on I-10, I saw skid marks approaching the exits that were longer than any I have ever seen. I can only imagine how fast some of those cars were going when the drivers realized they were at their exit...

Uh, German driver's have a long, expensive training period, and must be certified by the TUV. It's 4 years, as I recall. A cousin of mine there regaled me over the intricacies of it all.

the way some people take statements out of context and draw conclusions from them. The statement was part of a discussion regarding tires and the penalties for not having the correct tires to drive at sustained high speeds along with the requisite skills for the driver.

Does this mean people who are unemployed can drive around tailgating and flipping the bird, and pay no fines?.

What scares me most is people will continue to talk on cell phones (hand held), and text,
At those speeds it won't be a pretty sight.

I doubt that unemployed people would be on the Autobahn. The costs of getting a drivers license and maintaining a car is not trivial.

Even so, I suspect that there are minimum fines.

I drove the I-10 once. With the flat, seemingly endless roads, it is easy to drive way too fast.

And, there really isn't anything much to run into!

Stopped at the Painted Desert and saw a car with Hawaii license plates. I asked him if he used pontoons to cross. He said he used very tall fording gear. The drive was more scenic that way.