Unusual speed limits

[golden eagle]

Relaxok's thread about speed limits got me thinking about this one. What are some of the more unusual speed limits out there? On the Ole Miss campus in Oxford, the speed limit is 18, in honor of legendary QB Archie Manning's jersey number when he played there. I can't think of any other speed limits signs that doesn't end with a 0 or 5.

[NE2]

Many private roads have this sort of thing, with any integer or a even non-integer speed limit. It's really not worth listing them all.

[Quillz]

My local community college has a speed limit of 8 in the parking lots.

[Michael]

I find 50 MPH to be unusual.  I can only think of two or three places I've seen it in CNY.

To quote the MUTCD:

The Speed Limit (R2-1) sign (see Figure 2B-3) shall display the limit established by law, ordinance, regulation, or as adopted by the authorized agency based on the engineering study. The speed limits displayed shall be in multiples of 5 mph.

(Section 2B.13, Paragraph 2, Page 56)

[corco]

I find 50 MPH to be unusual.  I can only think of two or three places I've seen it in CNY.

To quote the MUTCD:
Quote
The Speed Limit (R2-1) sign (see Figure 2B-3) shall display the limit established by law, ordinance, regulation, or as adopted by the authorized agency based on the engineering study. The speed limits displayed shall be in multiples of 5 mph.
(Section 2B.13, Paragraph 2, Page 56)

I'm 99.99% sure that means that speed limits can end in 0 or 5, as those are both multiples of 5 (10 and 15 are both multiples of 5). There are thousands upon thousands of roads with x0 speed limits in this country.

[6a]

I've always found Ohio's 60 MPH speeds to be odd, especially when paired with a 55 truck limit (I'm looking at you, US 33.)  Most of the time it's on a limited access road and, with a state limit of 65, just seems nonsensical.  Just pick 55 or 65 and be done with it.

[J N Winkler]

There have been experiments with speed limits which are not integer multiples of 5, to determine whether drivers are more likely to comply with them.  These unusual limit values have not been found to improve compliance and that is part of the reason the MUTCD does not allow them on roads open to public travel.

[corco]

I've always found Ohio's 60 MPH speeds to be odd, especially when paired with a 55 truck limit (I'm looking at you, US 33.)  Most of the time it's on a limited access road and, with a state limit of 65, just seems nonsensical.  Just pick 55 or 65 and be done with it.

The worst for me is Colorado's micromanagement of speed limits. SH-318 sticks out as particularly obnoxious because it's so rural- the speed limit ranges from 50-55-60-65 with several 5 MPH speed drops/increases. Throughout the state, 5 MPH speed limit changes aren't horribly uncommon, and they're often just for a short stretch of road.
Then at major intersections in rural areas they'll often drop the speed limit from 65 to 55/45 just through the intersection (whereas most states would just put up an advisory speed with the intersection sign). 36 east of Byers has a lot of those, as does 14, and pretty much every other major state highway.

On 287 South heading into Fort Colliins where you get to the old 287 alignment into LaPorte, the speed limit drops to 25 just before the light, despite being entirely surrounded by speed limits of 45/65. It's obviously designed to make sure you stop at the light, but it's obnoxious.

[WillWeaverRVA]

My local community college has a speed limit of 8 in the parking lots.

The speed limit inside the parking decks at Virginia Commonwealth University is 6mph. Not too many people observe this, though, and I'm surprised no one's ever driven off one the decks.

[oscar]

I've always found Ohio's 60 MPH speeds to be odd, especially when paired with a 55 truck limit (I'm looking at you, US 33.)  Most of the time it's on a limited access road and, with a state limit of 65, just seems nonsensical.  Just pick 55 or 65 and be done with it.

I tend to take 60mph speed limits a little more seriously than a 55 or 65 limit.  55 or 65 is often the result of a statewide legal ceiling on how high the speed limit can be set.  60 rarely is, and looks more like something tailored to the road in question.

[Tarkus]

I tend to take 60mph speed limits a little more seriously than a 55 or 65 limit.  55 or 65 is often the result of a statewide legal ceiling on how high the speed limit can be set.  60 rarely is, and looks more like something tailored to the road in question.

Same here for the most part, though our very few 60 zones here in Oregon (one on I-84 east of Portland, one on I-5 through Salem and one on I-5 through Eugene--I don't know if Medford has one) are basically the result of ODOT trying to throw us a bone against the 65mph ceiling in less dense urban areas.  They'd probably be 65 zones if we had a higher ceiling. 

As a result, on pretty much any freeway or rural highway, I take the limits with a grain of salt.  They're completely arbitrary. 

-Alex (Tarkus)

[agentsteel53]

yep, nearly every speed limit of 55 is the result of someone being too lazy to do a real engineering study and letting a 1973 federal law do the work for them. 

[agentsteel53]

the town of Trenton, Tennessee is near-universally signed at 31 on its major town roads. 

there is a Speed Limit 11 sign in a state park in Wolf Creek, Oregon.

private property (which abounds with examples): I have an embossed Speed Limit 6 sign from - where else? - Six Flags.

not quite a speed limit sign, but there is a California standard sign that says "signals set to 23 mph" - this was put up in towns with a speed limit of 25 to encourage obedience.  It was adopted in other states: I believe there still are some left in Klamath Falls, OR.

Speed Limit 8 was actually a well-established standard in the early days of motoring.  I have seen a 1920s sign catalog that showed a standard sign made out to 8.

There are Speed Limit 1 and 3 signs in various California truck weigh stations.  Likely they exist in other states, too, and perhaps 2 does as well.  1 tends to be the limit for laden vehicles, while 3 is for unloaded.  They have different lanes with separate scales.

[Kacie Jane]

I used to find x0 speed limits odd, mostly just because I think x5 are more common in a lot of areas. (I grew up in NJ, and you could usually count on 25 residential, 35 arterial, 55 divided highway, and later on 65 for freeway -- although there were a handful of rural 2-lane roads with 50 mph.)

Here in Washington, with the 70 rural/60 urban freeway limits, it doesn't look nearly as strange to me.

[corco]

For me I find it easier to go 2 over when the speed limit is x5 instead of x0. It's easier for me to go 37 than 32 or 67 than 62. I'm sure it's purely psychological, but I just feel like the car (any car) actually drives more naturally at the x7 speed. If I were driving a car without a speedometer, I'd bet more often than not I'd be clocked at an x7 speed.

[agentsteel53]

For me I find it easier to go 2 over when the speed limit is x5 instead of x0. It's easier for me to go 37 than 32 or 67 than 62. I'm sure it's purely psychological, but I just feel like the car (any car) actually drives more naturally at the x7 speed. If I were driving a car without a speedometer, I'd bet more often than not I'd be clocked at an x7 speed.

this may be the case for me too.  A lot of the time I find myself doing 77 - but this just may be the underlying belief that California Highway Patrol will not care about anyone doing under 80.

also, I've noticed that the highest speed at which I feel like I am safely "cruising", as opposed to actively having to pay 105% attention to the road, is 97 mph.  Over 100 and I'm feeling unnerved and vigilant, but on extremely rural roads, I've been known to set cruise control to 97 and putter along just as though it were any other speed.

[myosh_tino]

Not sure if this qualifies but there's a mountainous road in the San Jose/Saratoga/Los Gatos area that has advisory speed limits (black-on-yellow) of 19 and 16 MPH on some sharp curves and yes, this is a public road maintained by the local government.

[Jim]

I have been maintaining a page of pictures of odd speed limit signs I've encountered.  I don't have many and they're mostly on private property.  I have a "no faster than a walk", a 4, a 6, 2 8's, an 11/13/18, a 14, a 19, and a 23.  They're all linked from:

http://www.teresco.org/pics/signs/speedlimits.html

[Michael in Philly]

I've always found Ohio's 60 MPH speeds to be odd, especially when paired with a 55 truck limit (I'm looking at you, US 33.)  Most of the time it's on a limited access road and, with a state limit of 65, just seems nonsensical.  Just pick 55 or 65 and be done with it.

60 seems to be standard on Interstates in Cuyahoga County.

[Michael in Philly]

I used to find x0 speed limits odd, mostly just because I think x5 are more common in a lot of areas. (I grew up in NJ, and you could usually count on 25 residential, 35 arterial, 55 divided highway, and later on 65 for freeway -- although there were a handful of rural 2-lane roads with 50 mph.)

Here in Washington, with the 70 rural/60 urban freeway limits, it doesn't look nearly as strange to me.

Funny you should mention New Jersey:  I believe 50 is the default limit in rural areas today.

[andytom]

I have been maintaining a page of pictures of odd speed limit signs I've encountered.  I don't have many and they're mostly on private property.  I have a "no faster than a walk", a 4, a 6, 2 8's, an 11/13/18, a 14, a 19, and a 23.  They're all linked from:

http://www.teresco.org/pics/signs/speedlimits.html

I'll have to get you one of the '14 1/2' from Nike.

--Andy

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

I've always found Ohio's 60 MPH speeds to be odd, especially when paired with a 55 truck limit (I'm looking at you, US 33.)  Most of the time it's on a limited access road and, with a state limit of 65, just seems nonsensical.  Just pick 55 or 65 and be done with it.

Along with US 30 east of Mansfield, and the Cleveland area freeways.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Seven or eight years ago I found these in Columbus

This was (is?) the parking lot for Riverside hospital (4 miles north of Ohio State Univ)

This one is at the entrance to an apartment complex on Kenny Rd between Fishinger and North Broadway (and a mile or two west of Riverside Hospital)

[jdb1234]

A shopping center in Fultondale, AL has a speed limit of 27.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Something worth mentioning: The MUTCD makes it explicit it does not apply to parking lots.