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National Boards => General Highway Talk => Traffic Control => Topic started by: ethanman62187 on August 26, 2011, 03:30:37 PM

Title: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: ethanman62187 on August 26, 2011, 03:30:37 PM
What's the highest speed limit you've ever gone to that has a traffic light on it. Tell the state, highway number, the road name for that intersection, and the speed limit.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: NE2 on August 26, 2011, 03:31:42 PM
Wouldn't it be more interesting to know what the highest speed limit is with a traffic light, period?
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: Bryant5493 on August 26, 2011, 04:01:53 PM
Georgia State Route 316/University Parkway - Speed limit's posted at 65 mph, but I've gotten up to 80 or 85 mph. There are traffic lights from the eastern Lawrenceville city limits all the way to Paul Broun Parkway (S.R. 10 Loop).


Be well,

Bryant
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: agentsteel53 on August 26, 2011, 04:33:02 PM
Austin, Texas has some truly frightening traffic lights on state highway 71 heading west from the airport.  Speed limit is 70, and the yellow interval is definitely too short to be able to stop safely at that speed. 

Speed of traffic is usually around 77.

highest I've done through a traffic light?  probably about that.  I tend not to speed on arterial roads.  I did hit 75 in a 35 once on the frontage road to the Santa Ana Freeway (I-5 south of LA) because traffic was dead-stopped and I didn't want to be.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: golden eagle on August 26, 2011, 08:51:54 PM
Mississippi non-interstate highways are 65 or lower.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: InterstateNG on August 26, 2011, 10:55:22 PM
Quote from: agentsteel53 on August 26, 2011, 04:33:02 PM
Austin, Texas has some truly frightening traffic lights on state highway 71 heading west from the airport.  Speed limit is 70, and the yellow interval is definitely too short to be able to stop safely at that speed. 

Yeah, the light at Riverside is pretty bad.  Construction just started on work to replace the light with an underpass.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: roadfro on August 27, 2011, 05:37:08 AM
Highest I can think of in Nevada would be the stretch of US 395 between Carson City and Minden, divided highway with signalized high-T intersections and a 65mph speed limit.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: M86 on August 27, 2011, 06:10:55 AM
NW Arkansas (or maybe all of Arkansas) really likes higher speed limits in urban areas, with a big number of access points.  There's a section of Walton Blvd in Bentonville that is 50 MPH with businesses, access points, and driveways all along it... making it almost impossible to turn out safely, and I always thought the speed limit was stupid.  Then again, I can't speak too highly of AHTD.  :-D
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: realjd on August 29, 2011, 11:50:27 AM
There are plenty of 65mph roads here in Florida with traffic lights.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: Crazy Volvo Guy on August 29, 2011, 05:20:35 PM
Quote from: M86 on August 27, 2011, 06:10:55 AM
NW Arkansas (or maybe all of Arkansas) really likes higher speed limits in urban areas, with a big number of access points.  There's a section of Walton Blvd in Bentonville that is 50 MPH with businesses, access points, and driveways all along it... making it almost impossible to turn out safely, and I always thought the speed limit was stupid.  Then again, I can't speak too highly of AHTD.  :-D

45-50's about good for a road like that.  It's only unsafe if you're afraid to floor it when you turn out, which most people unfortunately seem to be.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: ftballfan on August 29, 2011, 09:46:14 PM
Quote from: US-43|72 on August 29, 2011, 05:20:35 PM
Quote from: M86 on August 27, 2011, 06:10:55 AM
NW Arkansas (or maybe all of Arkansas) really likes higher speed limits in urban areas, with a big number of access points.  There's a section of Walton Blvd in Bentonville that is 50 MPH with businesses, access points, and driveways all along it... making it almost impossible to turn out safely, and I always thought the speed limit was stupid.  Then again, I can't speak too highly of AHTD.  :-D

45-50's about good for a road like that.  It's only unsafe if you're afraid to floor it when you turn out, which most people unfortunately seem to be.
US-31 at the southern end of Manistee (south of Merkey Rd) is 55 mph with quite a few driveways and only three lanes (one lane each direction plus a center turn lane).
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: jeffandnicole on August 30, 2011, 01:18:07 PM
Quote from: realjd on August 29, 2011, 11:50:27 AM
There are plenty of 65mph roads here in Florida with traffic lights.
I know Rt. 301 has a 65 limit and numerous traffic lights, however the speed limit always drops from 65 mph to 55 mph (or lower) anytime one approaches a traffic light.  Thus, this technically doesn't apply since the speed limit at a traffic light intersection is always 55 or below.

Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: realjd on August 30, 2011, 06:43:18 PM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on August 30, 2011, 01:18:07 PM
Quote from: realjd on August 29, 2011, 11:50:27 AM
There are plenty of 65mph roads here in Florida with traffic lights.
I know Rt. 301 has a 65 limit and numerous traffic lights, however the speed limit always drops from 65 mph to 55 mph (or lower) anytime one approaches a traffic light.  Thus, this technically doesn't apply since the speed limit at a traffic light intersection is always 55 or below.

The one that immediately comes to mind is US27 between I-4 and US-192, although looking at Google Streetview indicates that it's now 60 on the fast stretches and 55 at the lights. I see it often enough (65mph with lights) that I'm not surprised when I do. I wonder if it's simply a function of development outpacing FDOT. New shopping centers appear so quickly in parts of Florida that I wouldn't be surprised if FDOT can't keep up with the studies necessary to lower speed limits whenever a new Wal-Mart appears with a locally installed stop light.

The other place I see it regularly in Florida is in extremely rural areas. Take US-27 at SR-29 just SW of Lake Okeechobee. 29 is a 2-lane 60 and 27 is a 4-lane 65 and there is a light controlling the intersection.

A good link for checking Florida speed limits on state-maintained highways is this: http://koordinates.com/layer/851-florida-maximum-roadway-speed-limits-may-2009/. They take the GIS shapefile available from FDOT and display it on google maps. Click on a road to highlight that segment and show the speed limit. It's only current to May 2009 but keeps me from having to figure out actual GIS software.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: TheHighwayMan3561 on August 30, 2011, 06:53:02 PM
US 10 and MN 23, to name two, have traffic lights and 65 MPH limits at points in MN.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: Alps on August 30, 2011, 10:01:39 PM
Best you get in the Northeast is Saw Mill River Parkway at 55 mph. Other roads have isolated lights, but that one has a couple of stretches with a few in a row.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: Ian on August 30, 2011, 10:16:33 PM
Quote from: Steve on August 30, 2011, 10:01:39 PM
Best you get in the Northeast is Saw Mill River Parkway at 55 mph. Other roads have isolated lights, but that one has a couple of stretches with a few in a row.

I believe there are some other roads in New York that have traffic signals on 55 mph roads. One that comes to mind is the Washington Avenue Extension in Albany.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: Bigmikelakers on August 31, 2011, 01:15:59 AM
CA 86S South I-10 in Coachella has a few traffic signals. I know that this isn't a numbered route but, Antonio Pkwy has a speed limit of 65 in South Orange County, CA. Thats the highest speed limit I've ever seen for a non numbered route.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: agentsteel53 on August 31, 2011, 01:21:38 AM
Quote from: roadfro on August 27, 2011, 05:37:08 AM
Highest I can think of in Nevada would be the stretch of US 395 between Carson City and Minden, divided highway with signalized high-T intersections and a 65mph speed limit.

I was just on that, and did not notice any traffic lights in the 65 sections.  I did notice a lot of changes between 65, 55, and 50, so maybe I just plain missed a speed increase?

or are the "T"s going westbound, and therefore northbound traffic just never stopped?

Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: agentsteel53 on August 31, 2011, 01:23:11 AM
Quote from: InterstateNG on August 26, 2011, 10:55:22 PM
Yeah, the light at Riverside is pretty bad.  Construction just started on work to replace the light with an underpass.

I'm glad to hear it.  I am surprised that that intersection hasn't resulted in some ridiculously appalling wrecks. 
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: roadfro on August 31, 2011, 09:12:23 AM
Quote from: agentsteel53 on August 31, 2011, 01:21:38 AM
Quote from: roadfro on August 27, 2011, 05:37:08 AM
Highest I can think of in Nevada would be the stretch of US 395 between Carson City and Minden, divided highway with signalized high-T intersections and a 65mph speed limit.

I was just on that, and did not notice any traffic lights in the 65 sections.  I did notice a lot of changes between 65, 55, and 50, so maybe I just plain missed a speed increase?

or are the "T"s going westbound, and therefore northbound traffic just never stopped?

The "T"s are the eastern leg, so southbound traffic never stops except for the left turn signal. There's not more than three or four of these intersections though.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: vdeane on August 31, 2011, 11:24:59 AM
Quote from: PennDOTFan on August 30, 2011, 10:16:33 PM
Quote from: Steve on August 30, 2011, 10:01:39 PM
Best you get in the Northeast is Saw Mill River Parkway at 55 mph. Other roads have isolated lights, but that one has a couple of stretches with a few in a row.

I believe there are some other roads in New York that have traffic signals on 55 mph roads. One that comes to mind is the Washington Avenue Extension in Albany.
There's PLENTY of NY roads at 55mph with traffic lights.  NY 332, NY 8 in Sidney, formerly NY 590, US 11 near Fort Drum, NY 342, NY 37 in Ogdensburg and either side of Massena, etc.  We don't have 65mph though; the few 65mph roads that encounter traffic lights all go to 55 in the vincinity of the light (best, possibly only, example - NY 5 on its freeway in Syracuse).
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: vtk on August 31, 2011, 10:06:27 PM
US 23 has a signal at OH 229 just south of the Delaware-Marion county line. North of there, US 23 is an expressway with a 65 MPH speed limit. South of the intersection, it's arguably an expressway for 1/2 to 5 miles subject to interpretation, then a conventional 4-lane divided road, all at 55 MPH.  Southbound traffic can legally drive 65 up to the 55 MPH signs, which are about a hundred yards beyond the intersection.

There may be more examples in Ohio, possibly with 65 MPH on both sides, but there certainly aren't any at higher speeds, unless you count tollbooth-status signals at either end of the turnpike.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: sp_redelectric on September 01, 2011, 12:16:55 AM
It's been awhile since I've been in Montana but at the intersection of MT 40 and US 2 west of Columbia Falls, the speed limit west (on MT 40) and south (on US 2) of the intersection is 70.  Likewise at the intersection of MT 40 and US 93 south of Whitefish, the speed limit on MT 40 east is 70 (although Montana keeps the speed limit on 93 down to 65.)

I believe, however, that since I've moved away, MDT reduced the speed limit on US 2 between Columbia Falls and Evergreen (east of Kalispell) to 55 due to heavy traffic as well as the airport (which gained a traffic signal, wasn't there when I lived there.)
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: US12 on September 01, 2011, 11:12:03 AM
Highest in Michigan is 65 on US 127 North of St Johns. Though I'm not sure if the traffic light at the railroad crossing would count.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: formulanone on September 02, 2011, 01:51:13 PM
Quote from: Bryant5493 on August 26, 2011, 04:01:53 PM
Georgia State Route 316/University Parkway - Speed limit's posted at 65 mph, but I've gotten up to 80 or 85 mph. There are traffic lights from the eastern Lawrenceville city limits all the way to Paul Broun Parkway (S.R. 10 Loop).

You get to make up for it by averaging 2 mph right where GA 316 stops being a highway, and becomes a parking lot for the next three stop lights.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: mjb2002 on September 03, 2011, 07:01:23 PM
60 mph in South Carolina - along SOUTHBOUND ROAD in eastern Lexington County.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: vtk on September 04, 2011, 06:48:04 AM
Quote from: mjb2002 on September 03, 2011, 07:01:23 PM
60 mph in South Carolina - along SOUTHBOUND ROAD in eastern Lexington County.

That sounds like a road name with great potential for confusion, unless it's actually one-way southbound...
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: NE2 on September 04, 2011, 08:11:45 AM
Quote from: vtk on September 04, 2011, 06:48:04 AM
Quote from: mjb2002 on September 03, 2011, 07:01:23 PM
60 mph in South Carolina - along SOUTHBOUND ROAD in eastern Lexington County.

That sounds like a road name with great potential for confusion, unless it's actually one-way southbound...

Looks like it's US 321, and parallels the old South Bound Railroad.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: mjb2002 on September 04, 2011, 01:37:19 PM
Quote from: NE2 on September 04, 2011, 08:11:45 AM
Quote from: vtk on September 04, 2011, 06:48:04 AM
Quote from: mjb2002 on September 03, 2011, 07:01:23 PM
60 mph in South Carolina - along SOUTHBOUND ROAD in eastern Lexington County.

That sounds like a road name with great potential for confusion, unless it's actually one-way southbound...

Looks like it's US 321, and parallels the old South Bound Railroad.

It is US 321.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: JREwing78 on September 04, 2011, 06:14:54 PM
Michigan has a stretch of 4-lane M-53 expressway north around Romeo that's posted for 70 right up to each stoplight, then posted for 55 through the stoplights before going back up to 70. Or, at least it once did - I haven't been through there recently to see if that's still the case.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: roadman65 on September 04, 2011, 07:54:50 PM
Cypress Gardens Boulevard (FL SR 542) in Winter Haven, FL once had a 65 mph speed limits with a few signals on it.  Its since been dropped to 45 mph as development has boomed in that area.  The State Farm Insurance signal that flashed all the time except when the employees there went and left work it was operational is now working 24-7 due to a strip mall across the street.

Further south on US 27 in Broward County there is a signal north of the Miami- Dade County Line that is where 65 mph is posted.  Others along US 27 are common as well.   In FDOT D5 they drop all speed limits to 55 at signalized intersections, so along US 27 near Orlando you will see reduced speed signs along the way in 65 zones approaching these.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: Kacie Jane on September 04, 2011, 09:04:35 PM
Quote from: Steve on August 30, 2011, 10:01:39 PM
Best you get in the Northeast is Saw Mill River Parkway at 55 mph. Other roads have isolated lights, but that one has a couple of stretches with a few in a row.

I may be wrong, but I just drove that stretch yesterday, and I think the speed limit was 50.  (Needless to say, that was not the speed anyone - self included - was going.)  I *know* some of the other parkways in the area are 50 as opposed to 55.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: froggie on September 04, 2011, 09:12:41 PM
QuoteBest you get in the Northeast is Saw Mill River Parkway at 55 mph. Other roads have isolated lights, but that one has a couple of stretches with a few in a row.

As others noted, you get that in numerous locations in New York State.  There's also a stretch of US 7 south of Rutland, VT that is 55 MPH with a few signals (most notably at VT 103).

The furthest northeast you're going to find signals along a road higher than 55 MPH are in West Virginia (US 340 north of Charles Town) and Virginia (US 29 south of Warrenton)....60 MPH in both cases.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: ethanman62187 on September 22, 2011, 03:34:52 PM
In Texas, 75 MPH is the highest speed limit with signalized intersections.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: deathtopumpkins on September 23, 2011, 11:57:52 AM
US 1 in Newbury, MA is posted at 55 (a rare find on a 2-laner in New England) and there are a couple signals nearby but I can't recall if the speed limit actually drops before each of them or not.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: ethanman62187 on September 28, 2011, 03:07:07 PM
Quote from: deathtopumpkins on September 23, 2011, 11:57:52 AM
US 1 in Newbury, MA is posted at 55 (a rare find on a 2-laner in New England) and there are a couple signals nearby but I can't recall if the speed limit actually drops before each of them or not.

Well, ok.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: agentsteel53 on September 28, 2011, 03:13:19 PM
Quote from: ethanman62187 on September 28, 2011, 03:07:07 PM

Well, ok.

how many years of Ph.D level research did it take you to come up with a response that insightful?
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: bigboi00069 on October 01, 2011, 10:17:22 AM
Much of US 27 in Broward county has a 65mph speed limit. Even near populated places with traffic lights.
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: formulanone on October 01, 2011, 11:18:26 AM
Quote from: bigboi00069 on October 01, 2011, 10:17:22 AM
Much of US 27 in Broward county has a 65mph speed limit. Even near populated places with traffic lights.

If I recall, Griffin Road at US 27 has one of worst accident rates, so I think its 45mph at that intersection. (With lots of flashing warning lights, since southbound drivers might not have dealt with a traffic light since either South Bay, or further, if they came off Alligator Alley.)
Title: Re: Highest speed limit with traffic lights
Post by: roadman65 on October 25, 2011, 09:21:16 PM
Quote from: realjd on August 29, 2011, 11:50:27 AM
There are plenty of 65mph roads here in Florida with traffic lights.

Not in FDOT District 5. That is why the speed limit on US 27 dropped from 65 to 55 in parts south of Clermont.  Then in Polk County the 65 mph maximum was lowered to 60 in the part from Haines City to US 192.