State House Votes to Raise Speed Limit to 75 mph on Rural Freeways
Critics question safety of higher limit, but MDOT director says it shouldn’t make roads more dangerous.
The Michigan House voted Wednesday to raise the speed limit to 75 miles per hour on about 600 miles of rural freeways. There were 56 lawmakers who voted in favor of the increase, while 53 opposed it. Critics expressed concern that the higher limit could lead to more deadly crashes. But Michigan Department of Transportation Director Kirk Steudle tells WDET’s Pat Batcheller the affected roads were designed to handle that speed. Steudle also says a key factor in setting speed limits is how fast drivers are already going.
“We’ve done study after study after study with State Police, and it shows that that number of where people travel at stays about the same,” Steudle says. “The speed at which they travel stays about the same regardless of what that number says.”
The legislation could also raise the speed limit to 60 mph on another 900 miles of highways if certain engineering requirements are met. The measure now goes to the State Senate.
Click on the audio player above to hear the conversation.
