Most terrible speed limits.

[cpzilliacus]

What speed limits make you think that the dots were drunk when coming up with the speed limit? I am not talking about the, this could be slightly lower/higher, this is the what the f**k were they thinking, this should way higher/lower.

Do not blame the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (it is not their fault - instead blame the elected members of the New Jersey legislature that set the statewide maximum limit at 65), but a posted 65 MPH limit on the Turnpike (especially south of Exit 10) is beyond ridiculous. It seems to be  unenforced by  the New Jersey State Police, which makes it even worse, for it encourages drivers to disregard posted speed limits in general.

The posted limit on most of the Turnpike from 1 to 10 should be 75 MPH, maybe even 80 MPH.

[Revive 755]

How about any rural, straight, two-lane highway with great sight lines, large shoulders, and limited number of side entrances that is not posted at 65?  Particularly those in states like Illinois that used to post them at 65 before the NMSL messed everything up.

[MASTERNC]

Pretty much anything in Pennsylvania that's still 65 and not 70. Also, speed limits on surface expressways in PA are never more than 55, but US 15 from York Springs to south of Dillsburg could probably be 65, or at least 60.

Also, not every expressway that comes anywhere near a city needs to step down to 55...

Agreed.  Case in point is US 202 between US 30 and US 422.  The road is six lanes (with the exception of the construction that just started near US 30).  Prevailing speed is 70 MPH and above, yet the speed limit is 55.

[GaryV]

Nixon.

[Scott5114]

15

[Scott5114]

Nixon.

I, too, hate it when I'm stuck behind someone going Nixon miles per hour.

[Max Rockatansky]

Nixon.

I, too, hate it when I'm stuck behind someone going Nixon miles per hour.

I feel these images properly illustrate Nixon MPH:



Worse....these $#!+ 85 MPH speedometers that used to be everywhere:

[PColumbus73]

In South Carolina, I-95 between I-20 and US 52 drops from 70 to 60 (a grand total of 4 miles) for no discernable reason other than being a speed trap. There's not an obvious reason why the speed limit is lowered here, I-95 flows perfectly smooth at 70+ and no one slows down here.

A lot of the speed limits in Florida are absurd.  It isn't so much the maximum speed limits but rather the fact you get things like "55 MPH ahead" or "45 MPH ahead" at minor intersections on expressways like US 98 out in the middle of nowhere.  Neighboring states like Alabama just throw out an advisory speed if anything at all.  Really all it accomplishes is bogging down traffic and encouraging a slow driving populace. 

South Carolina does this too, but they mostly do this at rural signalized intersections. And when they do, the speed limit is always lowered to 45.

[Roadgeekteen]

In South Carolina, I-95 between I-20 and US 52 drops from 70 to 60 (a grand total of 4 miles) for no discernable reason other than being a speed trap. There's not an obvious reason why the speed limit is lowered here, I-95 flows perfectly smooth at 70+ and no one slows down here.

A lot of the speed limits in Florida are absurd.  It isn't so much the maximum speed limits but rather the fact you get things like "55 MPH ahead" or "45 MPH ahead" at minor intersections on expressways like US 98 out in the middle of nowhere.  Neighboring states like Alabama just throw out an advisory speed if anything at all.  Really all it accomplishes is bogging down traffic and encouraging a slow driving populace. 

South Carolina does this too, but they mostly do this at rural signalized intersections. And when they do, the speed limit is always lowered to 45.

States should ban towns from setting speed limits on state maintained roads.

[hotdogPi]

In South Carolina, I-95 between I-20 and US 52 drops from 70 to 60 (a grand total of 4 miles) for no discernable reason other than being a speed trap. There's not an obvious reason why the speed limit is lowered here, I-95 flows perfectly smooth at 70+ and no one slows down here.

A lot of the speed limits in Florida are absurd.  It isn't so much the maximum speed limits but rather the fact you get things like "55 MPH ahead" or "45 MPH ahead" at minor intersections on expressways like US 98 out in the middle of nowhere.  Neighboring states like Alabama just throw out an advisory speed if anything at all.  Really all it accomplishes is bogging down traffic and encouraging a slow driving populace. 

South Carolina does this too, but they mostly do this at rural signalized intersections. And when they do, the speed limit is always lowered to 45.

States should ban towns from setting speed limits on state maintained roads.

Outside New England and New York, many areas in the middle of nowhere are not even part of a town.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Nixon.

Yup. In my country the max speed limit never went below 100 km/h (62 mph) during that period.

[Max Rockatansky]

In South Carolina, I-95 between I-20 and US 52 drops from 70 to 60 (a grand total of 4 miles) for no discernable reason other than being a speed trap. There's not an obvious reason why the speed limit is lowered here, I-95 flows perfectly smooth at 70+ and no one slows down here.

A lot of the speed limits in Florida are absurd.  It isn't so much the maximum speed limits but rather the fact you get things like "55 MPH ahead" or "45 MPH ahead" at minor intersections on expressways like US 98 out in the middle of nowhere.  Neighboring states like Alabama just throw out an advisory speed if anything at all.  Really all it accomplishes is bogging down traffic and encouraging a slow driving populace. 

South Carolina does this too, but they mostly do this at rural signalized intersections. And when they do, the speed limit is always lowered to 45.

I'm not getting the theory in how it is supposed to be safer as opposed to an advisory sign instead?  Most people instinctively slow down at crossings and the people who blow through them are going to do it anyways regardless of an enforceable limit.  The trouble is that 45 MPH is often way too low when 55 MPH would often suffice just fine, especially on Florida expressways.

[vdeane]

A-30 does that near Bécancour as well.  It's 100 between the at-grades, 70 approaching each one.  Oddly, A-55 and A-955 don't do this.

[hbelkins]

States should ban towns from setting speed limits on state maintained roads.

Lexington and Louisville may be special cases, but in Kentucky, the state has jurisdiction for speed limits on all state-maintained highways. Now, the state will work with municipalities with regard to lowering speed limits, but the state has the final say.

[Brandon]

Worse....these $#!+ 85 MPH speedometers that used to be everywhere:

And that was Carter MPH, continuing Nixon MPH.

[JREwing78]

The 60 mph truck speed limit on Michigan freeways is awful, particularly on roads like I-94 that are jammed with trucks in the left lane doing 62.5 passing other trucks in the right lane doing 62.4.

They're *slowly* fixing that on some roads, but not fast enough.

[Max Rockatansky]

The 60 mph truck speed limit on Michigan freeways is awful, particularly on roads like I-94 that are jammed with trucks in the left lane doing 62.5 passing other trucks in the right lane doing 62.4.

They're *slowly* fixing that on some roads, but not fast enough.

You just reminded me of the 55 MPH limit for trucks and trailers here in California.  But with that it is almost totally ignored by everyone including CHP.

[ekt8750]

Also, not every expressway that comes anywhere near a city needs to step down to 55...

The Blue Route portion of I-476 comes to mind. Most people do at least 70 already.


I'll also nominate the four DRPA bridges as well. Every road/bridge they control is 45 MPH two of which are Interstates (I'm counting the Ben for the sake of argument). With the exception of the Commodore Barry which ends in a big interchange with I-95 in PA and on the Jersey side goes on as a surface expressway, they should be signed for 60 MPH, IMO.

[jeffandnicole]

Also, not every expressway that comes anywhere near a city needs to step down to 55...

The Blue Route portion of I-476 comes to mind. Most people do at least 70 already.


I'll also nominate the four DRPA bridges as well. Every road/bridge they control is 45 MPH two of which are Interstates (I'm counting the Ben for the sake of argument). With the exception of the Commodore Barry which ends in a big interchange with I-95 in PA and on the Jersey side goes on as a surface expressway, they should be signed for 60 MPH, IMO.

Not only are their bridges 45 mph, but everything within their jurisdiction is 45 mph.  The entire portion of I-76 from Passyunk to the bridge is 45.  In NJ, they apparently took over about 1, 1.5 miles of I-676 close to the bridge.  The very first thing they did was reduce the limit to 45 from the previously marked 55 mph!

[sbeaver44]

Pretty much anything in Pennsylvania that's still 65 and not 70. Also, speed limits on surface expressways in PA are never more than 55, but US 15 from York Springs to south of Dillsburg could probably be 65, or at least 60.

Also, not every expressway that comes anywhere near a city needs to step down to 55...

Agreed.  Case in point is US 202 between US 30 and US 422.  The road is six lanes (with the exception of the construction that just started near US 30).  Prevailing speed is 70 MPH and above, yet the speed limit is 55.

Additionally, US 30 between York and Lancaster is still 55, but PA 283 is 65 until just before Lancaster, and US 222 goes to 65 pretty quickly past US 30.

Speaking of PA, I'd also add US 322 above Lewistown and I-99/US 220 between US 322 and I-80 near Bellefonte.  Those could easily be higher than 55.

US 11/15 between US 22/322 and Selinsgrove could be 60 or 65, but PennDOT won't do it with all the at-grades.  Ohio and WV have roads like that with higher speed limits than 55.

I guess with Clarks Ferry PennDOT doesn't want 65 on US 22/322 between, say, PA 443 and PA 147, but 55 feels so slow there.



Nexus 6P

[PHLBOS]

Worse....these $#!+ 85 MPH speedometers that used to be everywhere:

And that was Carter MPH, continuing Nixon MPH.

Actually, the first 0-85 speedometers started appearing on the '77 models; which rolled out about 2 months prior to the '76 elections.

[texaskdog]

Many freeways out east.  Most states are finally coming around to 75.

[1995hoo]

The 55-mph speed limit on the Dulles Toll Road (four lanes per side) has always struck me as absurd. I usually set my cruise control at 65 mph on there. I don't pass anyone at that speed.

[US 89]

Legacy Parkway in Davis County, UT is a full freeway, posted at 55 mph as part of a trade off with environmentalists for building the road in the first place. And there are tons of cops who actually enforce it. 55 is way too slow, IMO. I have to set cruise control for 57 or 58, otherwise I would be going 70.

[7/8]

Besides the maximum 100 km/h limits on Ontario's 400-series highways, there's also the 90 km/h limit on the freeway portion of highway 7/8 between New Hamburg to Kitchener. The part west of Kitchener is a rural freeway which could easily handle 100 (should be even higher, but that would require the MTO to get over their 100 limits).

It also annoys me that city/regional roads have little rhyme or reason for their speed limits. For example, at Weber and University in Waterloo, Weber is 60, while University is 50, yet they're both equally sized arterials roads.