Proposal to raise speed limit in Kansas resurfaces

[J N Winkler]

Seeing as how the turnpike is going to 75 while the alternate routes (US 24 and K-10) will have a maximum speed limit of 70, I doubt the KTA will have much to complain about

I remember seeing a 70 speed limit on US 24 between built-up Topeka and the end of the four-lane divided section just west of Perry (a distance of about 15 miles) the last time I drove US 24 between Manhattan and Kansas City.  That cannot have been later than 1998.

I don't think the Turnpike ever had reason to complain about adverse competition from US 24.  The end of the four-lane divided section (and thus the 70 limit) was a good ten miles shy of Lawrence.  Although the route is mostly rural and open between Topeka and Kansas City, there is still street running in Tonganoxie.  It is basically a pleasant and cheap alternative to the Turnpike, but not one you would choose for speed.

When I was doing my undergraduate degree at KSU, I would occasionally go to Kansas City for museum visits and so on (the Nelson-Atkins is the only art museum reasonably close to Kansas which attempts encyclopedic coverage of art--there are good museums in Kansas itself, like the Spencer museum in Lawrence and the Wichita art museum, but their collections are of necessity limited in scope).  The route I took most often was K-177 to I-70 both ways, but quite often I would return using US 24 between Kansas City and Topeka.  I rarely took US 24 the whole way because it is a hard slog through Wamego, St. Mary's, and Silver Lake.  US 40 between Topeka and Lawrence had too much ribbon development, and K-10 was too stoplight-infested within built-up Lawrence, so I don't think I ever took either route more than two or three times.

[Scott5114]

I think the interesting thing about this is how it will impact the US-71/future I-49 corridor. The competing US-69 corridor will have a 75 MPH speed limit, which might cause savvy travelers to choose it over I-49, especially if the freeway gets extended south of Fort Scott at some point. Might this lead to speed limit increases in Missouri, if "economic development" was one of the big reasons for I-49?

[J N Winkler]

My intuition is that Missouri will stick with 70, partly because it has so much freeway mileage with 40' dish medians instead of the 60' dish medians used in Kansas and the somewhat narrower raised medians used on the Oklahoma turnpikes.  KDOT has already decided that US 69 south of Fort Scott (down to Arma) will be an upgradable expressway instead of a freeway straight out of the box, so it could very well be two or three decades (or even longer) before that length of US 69 is built to the same standard as the one now posted for 75.  With the exception of Tulsa, I'm not sure there is that much overlap in travelshed between US 69 and US 71.  Of course, KDOT could loosen up and start signing expressways and isolated lengths of freeway for 75, and MoDOT could actually get some money and start upgrading freeways . . .

BTW, in regard to the "day before the increase" scenario discussed earlier in this thread:  on June 30, the day before the new limit took effect, one of the Wichita-area TV stations had a news spot in which a KHP trooper said that the 75 limit did not take effect until midnight, and until then, the KHP would be enforcing the 70 limit.  I suspect this was a deliberate plant to make it easier for the KHP to resist goodwill ticket dismissals.

[agentsteel53]

BTW, in regard to the "day before the increase" scenario discussed earlier in this thread:  on June 30, the day before the new limit took effect, one of the Wichita-area TV stations had a news spot in which a KHP trooper said that the 75 limit did not take effect until midnight, and until then, the KHP would be enforcing the 70 limit.  I suspect this was a deliberate plant to make it easier for the KHP to resist goodwill ticket dismissals.

when did they uncover the new signs?  I am guessing they did so in the hours just after midnight.  

therefore, I would not see by what rationale someone would think that the speed limit is 75 when it is clearly posted 70 - either before midnight, when it is 70, or between midnight and sunrise when it is somehow 75 but, again, how the Hell am I to know that?  x-ray vision?

this seems like a case in which too much information is a bad thing.  why spew all over the airwaves where the speed limit is going to change real soon now?  except for us roadgeeks who love discussing this information on the forum, I doubt anyone cares about the exact minutiae. 

the general public should be content with two data points: first, they read in the paper that a new law was passed and the signs will be updated in an expedient manner, and second, they see the signs updated.

people should wake up on July 1 and note "oh hey, the speed limit is 75 now" and drive a bit faster, as opposed to attempting to jump the gun on June 30 at 10pm because they read in the paper that this, that, and the other thing ...

[J N Winkler]

Tom Hein (KDOT PAO for the Wichita area) posted on his Twitter feed on June 30 that there would be a "media opportunity" in connection with the speed limit increase, to take place at 1.30 when KDOT's Wichita-area crews rolled out to install 75 MPH patches.  But he did not say whether this was PM (on June 30, presumably) or AM (on July 1, presumably).  Depending on which it was, there might have been a period of some hours when the signs said 75 MPH when the speed limit was still 70.

[route56]

I was monitoring the KDOT social media feeds... they did start applying the 75 MPH patches during the afternoon of the 30th.

I went out and made a quick trip to Topeka on the 1st, in part to purchase my birthday present (a relatively inexpensive remote for my camera, so that I can take fireworks and lightning pictures w/out touching the camera). I also took a quick trip out to the Shawnee/Wabunsee county line on 70.

Based on the information I have gathered from KDOT, as well as KDOT's press releases, I have updated the I-70, I-35, I-135, US 69, and Turnpike exit guides to reflect the change: http://www.route56.com/exitguides/ (US 81 north of Salina is included in the I-135 exit guide)