Gov. Brown signs Oregon speed limit increase bill

[kwellada]

ODOT posted a map on their Facebook page showing all of the increase locations

awfully nice of them to have that in place for my roadtrip through Oregon next month!

[Thunderbyrd316]

Out of the Senate and off to the governor. Passed 26-1.

Yipee! 

Next assignment: I-5, I-205, Ore.22 and Sunset. Let's make it happen!

[Bickendan]

Don't forget I-82.

[Thunderbyrd316]

Don't forget I-82.

That was covered in the amendment that just passed.

[Sub-Urbanite]

Signed by the governor, effective 3/1/16. I wonder if ODOT can just lump the work in with the ongoing work elsewhere in the state.

[Thunderbyrd316]

   If I had to guess, because both of these sections are relatively short, I suspect that it will only be a few days at most past the first that they will be posted.

[Sub-Urbanite]

For I-82 it might be that simple, but I doubt it will be for US 97. ODOT had to go through and redo all of the passing lanes in the areas with raised speed limits, for obvious reasons. I mean, that still might only take a week to engineer & stripe, but I don't think they'll just go out and drop the new speed limit signs.

[Sub-Urbanite]

Over on ODOT's Flickr page, they've got some good pictures showing how they used LIDAR to re-map passing lanes. Interesting stuff.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/oregondot/

[kkt]

Out of the Senate and off to the governor. Passed 26-1.

Yipee! 

Next assignment: I-5, I-205, Ore.22 and Sunset. Let's make it happen!

Meh.  The speed limits are not the reason I-205 is slow.  Or I-5, on most days.

[Sub-Urbanite]

Meh.  The speed limits are not the reason I-205 is slow.  Or I-5, on most days.

This. There is literally no problem here. The only way to get a ticket on this freeway is to A) Be going way faster than the rest of traffic, which means at least 70, and B) Be paying so poor of attention to the road that you don't notice that OSP/PPB are hanging out at their usual-and-consistent "hiding" places (Strawberry, Stark and Airport). And for the other 20 hours of the day, you're lucky to do 55.

Plus, I gotta be honest — I live 800 feet from I-205. It's loud enough with a 55 mph speed limit. It's not going to get quieter at 70, and there is no magical money that's going to fall from heaven to get us soundwalls.

[mcarling]

I live 800 feet from I-205. It's loud enough with a 55 mph speed limit. It's not going to get quieter at 70, and there is no magical money that's going to fall from heaven to get us soundwalls.

As best as I can measure using Google Earth, I live 803 feet from the center divide of I-5.  Except for sirens and horns, I cannot hear any traffic noise through double-pane windows.  If the noise is bothering you, double-pane or triple-pane windows might solve your problem.

[Sub-Urbanite]

I live 800 feet from I-205. It's loud enough with a 55 mph speed limit. It's not going to get quieter at 70, and there is no magical money that's going to fall from heaven to get us soundwalls.

As best as I can measure using Google Earth, I live 803 feet from the center divide of I-5.  Except for sirens and horns, I cannot hear any traffic noise through double-pane windows.  If the noise is bothering you, double-pane or triple-pane windows might solve your problem.

Had a triple-pane put in my bedroom in 2012 and right now I can hear the roar of cars through the window. My phone says it's about 60 db. Plus, a triple-pane window doesn't stop any noise when it's summer and an open window is how you cool your house down. With the windows open, more like 75 db.

[doorknob60]

Here's some pictures.

I-84 near Biggs:



VMS on I-84 in Baker City. I find this funny. See, if you wanted no more need to speed, you should have raised it to 80 instead of 70 

[Tarkus]

It appears ODOT is already going full kneejerk . . .

[roadfro]

It appears ODOT is already going full kneejerk . . .

In that article, it mentions ODOT will review the temporary rollbacks with the state Speed Zone Review Panel.

Seriously...There's a board for this?!?!

[jakeroot]

It appears ODOT is already going full kneejerk . . .

In that article, it mentions ODOT will review the temporary rollbacks with the state Speed Zone Review Panel.

Seriously...There's a board for this?!?!

Yeah, no shit. I'm sure Washington has something just like it too.

Here's a bright idea: raise the limit, and wait at least two years before changing it to anything else. That way, there's a comprehensive set of data you can review. Otherwise, a change appears to be a kneejerk reaction.

[opspe]

More evidence US 97 should be twinned.

[jeffandnicole]

It appears ODOT is already going full kneejerk . . .

Within the article...

Research for the National Cooperative Highway Research Program in 2006 found increasing the speed limit from 55 to 65 mph raises the number of crashes by about 3 percent, while the number of fatal injuries increases by 28 percent. However, individual states have reported mixed results upon raising speed limits.

If that's the case, shouldn't fatals be up nationwide? Instead, they're down. And drunks still cause about 1/3 of all fatals, another figure that percentage-wise should have gone down if speeding has caused more fatals.

[kkt]

Maybe, but there's all sorts of other possible explanations for overall fatalities going down.  Maybe there's so much time traffic is at a crawl that no one's going fast enough to get in a fatal collision.  Maybe the number of people under 25 with drivers' licenses is going down.  It really needs to an honest investigator to check out all the angles, but it seems like most people who study the situation have one axe to grind or another.

[Sub-Urbanite]

Omg! The speed limit went back down on 35 of the 400+ miles that got increased! Sky. Falling.

Seriously, seems like the Legislature attacked it with a broad stroke and ODOT, being technical engineers, are fine-tuning. Is that so bad?

[Sub-Urbanite]

More evidence US 97 should be twinned.

This.

[vdeane]

Omg! The speed limit went back down on 35 of the 400+ miles that got increased! Sky. Falling.

Seriously, seems like the Legislature attacked it with a broad stroke and ODOT, being technical engineers, are fine-tuning. Is that so bad?

Sounds to me like they are in the pocket of the insurance lobby and using this as an excuse to get rid of something they didn't like in the first place.  If ODOT wasn't adamantly against higher speed limits, they would have been there over a decade ago, when the legislature raised the default limits... and ODOT promptly lowered them all back, claiming that every single mile of roadway in the state had unusually unsafe conditions.  ODOT will do anything and say anything to get rid of the changes the legislature courageously implemented to save Oregon from ODOT's malicious stupidity.

[opspe]

More evidence US 97 should be twinned.

This.

The stretches where ODOT is rescinding the limits have a lot of at-grade intersections, because they're largely developed agricultural zones with slow moving tractors etc.  So I hate to say it, but ODOT might be in the right here.  Until they get rid of those intersections, at least.

[nexus73]

More evidence US 97 should be twinned.

This.

The stretches where ODOT is rescinding the limits have a lot of at-grade intersections, because they're largely developed agricultural zones with slow moving tractors etc.  So I hate to say it, but ODOT might be in the right here.  Until they get rid of those intersections, at least.

That's how I saw the issue too.

US 101's section between downtown North Bend and downtown Coos Bay had a short 45 MPH stretch with 40 on the rest.  That 45 limit got placed on the whole stretch.  So far so good!  I was surprised at this elevated speed being posted as ODOT is known for being rather stodgy about speed limits.

Rick

[Brandon]

More evidence US 97 should be twinned.

This.

The stretches where ODOT is rescinding the limits have a lot of at-grade intersections, because they're largely developed agricultural zones with slow moving tractors etc.  So I hate to say it, but ODOT might be in the right here.  Until they get rid of those intersections, at least.

Yet TxDOT seems to handle it just fine.