Lawmakers in Arizona and Kansas are considering legislation that would raise speed limits 5 mph on certain rural roadways.
A panel in the Arizona Senate voted Feb. 17 to permit the state to raise the speed limit for all vehicles on rural interstate highways by 5 mph. That would take the maximum legal speed up to 80 mph.
The Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Transportation vote came after Sen. Thayer Verschoor, R-Gilbert, agreed to modify his original proposal, which also would have boosted the top speed on other highways to 70 mph. Verschoor told local media he is content to keep his measure confined to rural areas and to leave the final decision to the Arizona Department of Transportation.
Verschoor said Arizona had some roads with 80 mph speed limits before the 1970s. That was when a fuel shortage resulted in a federally mandated “double nickel” speed limit. Congress has since permitted states to once again determine appropriate speeds.
“The way I see it, the roads are a lot better built than when I was a kid,” Verschoor told the Arizona Daily Sun.
SB1221, which now heads to the Senate floor for discussion, wouldn't change another state law that permits judges to send someone to jail for 30 days and impose a $500 fine for speeds in excess of 85 mph.
In Kansas, a measure approved Feb. 18 by the Senate Transportation Committee would boost the state's speed limit for all vehicles on rural interstate highways to 75 mph. Currently, vehicles are permitted to travel up to 70 mph.
Under the bill, 80 mph would remain the speed at which a moving violation is reported to a driver's insurance company.
SB384, sponsored by Senate Transportation Chairman Les Donovan, R-Wichita, now heads to the full Senate.
The bill wouldn't change the 65-mph limit on urban interstates.
A spokesman for the Kansas Department of Transportation said his agency in general supports the bill.
“We do not believe that raising the speed limit 5 mph would be detrimental to safety,” David Church, chief of the Bureau of Traffic Engineering for KDOT, told The Kansas City Star. “Crashes are normally associated with the variation in traffic speeds instead of the absolute speed.”
