Michigan Highways to Increase Speed Limit in Future

[Hurricane Rex]

I love what Michigan is doing with their speed limits but does anyone know if more are going up soon other than those announced in the summer?

I just know doing 80 mph you make 1 mile every 45 seconds.

Shouldn't that be 90 mph, not 80?

No.  60 is 3/4s of 80.  Hence, whatever the mileage is, you multiply by 3 and divide by 4 to get your time in minutes at 80 mph.

And 60 is 2/3 of 90. Same logic applies.

[Flint1979]

I drove on US 10 all the way from Bay City to M-66 and back last night. It's 75 mph for the entire freeway stretch then drops down to 55 mph once the freeway stretch ends on the west end just after M-115.

[JREwing78]

So, I finally spent some quality time on many of the 2-lanes in Michigan posted for 65 mph, including M-65, US-23 north of Alpena, M-123, and US-2. A few thoughts:

- I'm surprised how much more relaxing the trip is with the new limits. There's less variation in speeds now, which means fewer people trying to make questionable passing decisions.

- For the most part, it appears they simply replaced the 55 mph sections with 65 mph sections, with no new intermediary sections gradually bringing drivers down or up to 65. The one exception I encountered was east of Rapid River, which was inexplicably posted for 60 mph.

- It's not obvious what drove the decision making of what made the cut, and what didn't. M-123 north of M-28 seems awful narrow and littered with driveways to merit a posted 65 mph. Meanwhile, M-26 south of Houghton, US-141, and US-41 between Chassel and Ishpeming certainly seem worth the upgraded limits.

- Also surprising, no sense of urgency to upgrade additional sections of highway to 65 mph. We haven't heard a peep out of MDOT about any studies or surveys to establish whether they wish to leave the existing sections in place, remove them, or expand them.

[ftballfan]

Here are some roads that I'm surprised aren't 65:
M-52 from I-96 to the southern M-36 junction
M-37 from Newaygo to Baldwin (outside of White Cloud and Brohman)
M-20 from US-31 to US-131 (outside of Hesperia and White Cloud)
M-55 from Lake City to Houghton Lake and from M-157 to I-75
US-131 from the northern end of the freeway to Kalkaska

[bulldog1979]

If I'm not mistaken, the law that allowed MDOT and MSP to increase speed limits also set an upper cap at the number of miles that could be increased. There are probably many candidates that would have been bumped, but to do so would have exceeded the allowable mileage.

[SSOWorld]

If I'm not mistaken, the law that allowed MDOT and MSP to increase speed limits also set an upper cap at the number of miles that could be increased. There are probably many candidates that would have been bumped, but to do so would have exceeded the allowable mileage.

Technicalities 🤬

What is the benefit that governments see from setting such caps?

[bulldog1979]

If I'm not mistaken, the law that allowed MDOT and MSP to increase speed limits also set an upper cap at the number of miles that could be increased. There are probably many candidates that would have been bumped, but to do so would have exceeded the allowable mileage.

Technicalities 🤬

What is the benefit that governments see from setting such caps?

Perhaps it got a few hesitant legislators on board, and if they made the difference in the voting margin, then it was a matter of passing the law or not.