A state House committee agreed this morning to let the Department of Transportation raise highway speed limits to as high as 75 miles an hour if it wants to. But DOT Secretary Ananth Prasad assured some skeptical members of the Economic Affairs committee that no speed limits will be raised without individual studies.
"All this bill does is raises the cap", Prasad explained. "And our goal is not to go out and do a speed study on every road. I don't have the money nor the resources to do that. On a case by case basis, when we are made aware of it, we will do the speed study."The bill now goes to the full House. It would allow 75 miles an hour on limited access highways, 70 miles an hour on rural four-lane roads, and 65 for everything else. The committee approved the bill despite warnings from the Triple-A that most of the states that raised their highway speed limits ultimately saw more accident fatalities.
A companion bill is moving through the state Senate.