Speed limits: the blurring of lines

[kphoger]

Are there situations where you find it unclear what the speed limit on a stretch of road is?  Here's mine, which I travel frequently:  http://goo.gl/maps/gBQOv

On the one hand, it is an unnamed local street connecting Sycamore to Seneca.  Coming from Sycamore, there is no speed limit sign at all, so one might assume the entire stretch to be 30 mph by default.

On the other hand, it is also an exit ramp from Kellogg to Seneca.  Exit Kellogg, there is also no speed limit sign, not even an advisory speed, so one might assume the stretch is still 60 mph.

One thing that seems intuitive is that traffic isn't expected to slow from 60 to 30 before the gore point.  But I have nothing concrete to base that intuition on.

[WichitaRoads]

All the times I've used the exit there, I've never thought about a speed limit! I guess I was just naturally slowing, expecting a red light at Seneca. Good question on the speed there.

ICTRds

[empirestate]

In New York State, any time that there's an "END xx MPH LIMIT" sign, but the next stretch's speed limit isn't posted immediately afterward. For example, say you're going from 30 up to 40 mph, perhaps crossing a city line into a suburban area. You get an "END 30 MPH LIMIT" sign, after which the limit defaults to the state limit of 55. The distance between there and the actual SPEED LIMIT 40 sign is the distance in which you're allowed to go 55, apparently.

[Ace10]

MS 609 in Ocean Springs is like that. From one intersection (I think it's Ponce de Leon Dr) north to I-10, the speed limit is 55, but the southbound side is 45. I keep wondering if that's intentional, but I don't want to bring it to MDOT's attention and have them likely correct both sides to 45. Problem is, no one seems to notice the speed limit goes up when traveling north, and I get very aggravated when both lanes are piddling along at 10 miles below the limit.

[kphoger]

I don't think are any rules stating that one direction can't have a different speed limit than the other direction.

[agentsteel53]

I don't think are any rules stating that one direction can't have a different speed limit than the other direction.

I believe, in California, at least for undivided roads, the speed limit must be the same in both directions.

[Ace10]

There very well may not be such a law in Mississippi, but I have to wonder if it was intentionally signed that way, or if an engineering study determined traffic could flow at 10mph faster, and in the opposite direction, than opposing traffic.

I haven't yet had the desire to drop by whatever office and pull an engineering study. Knowing Mississippi, that kind of thing could take ages.

[doorknob60]

In Oregon, many remote highways (even state maintained ones) don't post any speed limit signs (or do it very infrequently). Legally, this means it's 55 (which is way too low for these highways usually), but I think it's their way of saying "55 is to slow, so go as fast as you feel is reasonable". The Cascade Lakes highway is 66 miles long, and going W/S bound has a "SPEED 55" as it exits Bend, but has no more speed signs all the way until its end at Crescent Cutoff Rd. Coming northbound, there is no speed posted the ENTIRE way, all the way to Bend when it lowers to 45. I've traveled most of this highway comfortably at around 75 mph.

OR-78 near Burns is the same thing, no signs the whole stretch (except maybe one exiting Burns, but there isn't one at its jct with US-95). Oregon just needs to man up and raise the maximum speed limit to something like 75, because 55 is a complete joke. Everyone goes 70+ anyways, at least east of the Cascades (they're more strict in the valley, and the highways are less rural anyways).

[kphoger]

In Oregon, many remote highways (even state maintained ones) don't post any speed limit signs (or do it very infrequently). Legally, this means it's 55 (which is way too low for these highways usually), but I think it's their way of saying "55 is to slow, so go as fast as you feel is reasonable". The Cascade Lakes highway is 66 miles long, and going W/S bound has a "SPEED 55" as it exits Bend, but has no more speed signs all the way until its end at Crescent Cutoff Rd. Coming northbound, there is no speed posted the ENTIRE way, all the way to Bend when it lowers to 45. I've traveled most of this highway comfortably at around 75 mph.

OR-78 near Burns is the same thing, no signs the whole stretch (except maybe one exiting Burns, but there isn't one at its jct with US-95). Oregon just needs to man up and raise the maximum speed limit to something like 75, because 55 is a complete joke. Everyone goes 70+ anyways, at least east of the Cascades (they're more strict in the valley, and the highways are less rural anyways).

That seems to be a way to save money on signs by states that have a 55 mph limit.  Illinois, for example, doesn't post speed limit signs in between towns, except at state highway junctions.  Illinois, however, does not want you travel as fast as you want (though, as I've mentioned, they do have a decently high tolerance for speeding).

[Duke87]

Connecticut is not particularly vigilant about posting speed limit signs or about taking care that they are consistent. CT 137, at some point north of the Merritt Parkway, changes from having a 40 MPH limit to having a 45 MPH limit. Problem is, the first 45 sign you see going northbound is a good mile north of the first 40 sign you see going southbound. For this whole mile, legally there is a different limit in each direction.

There is also, naturally, no warning that the speed limit is about to drop anywhere. Connecticut rarely posts such signs.

It's all academic in this particular case since there are never any cops along that road - of course, in spite of this, an annoying number of drivers still more or less obey the limit. Freaking yokels.

[corco]

There are still quite a few relic "END SPEED ZONE" signs in Montana with no speed limit afterwards from when either there was no speed limit or the limit was known to be 55

[spmkam]

Connecticut is not particularly vigilant about posting speed limit signs or about taking care that they are consistent. CT 137, at some point north of the Merritt Parkway, changes from having a 40 MPH limit to having a 45 MPH limit. Problem is, the first 45 sign you see going northbound is a good mile north of the first 40 sign you see going southbound. For this whole mile, legally there is a different limit in each direction.

There is also, naturally, no warning that the speed limit is about to drop anywhere. Connecticut rarely posts such signs.

It's all academic in this particular case since there are never any cops along that road - of course, in spite of this, an annoying number of drivers still more or less obey the limit. Freaking yokels.

Oh the wonders of High Ridge Road.

[mjb2002]

In South Carolina (as I found out on a Driver's Exam test), they have what is called statute speed limits if there is no such sign on the street.

For incorporated areas, the statute speed limit is 30 mph.

For unincorporated areas, the statute speed limit is 55 mph.

[kphoger]

But those are all "unless otherwise posted", right?  In which case my example still makes me wonder if the road is considered still signed as 60 mph (as an exit ramp) or not.

[agentsteel53]

There are still quite a few relic "END SPEED ZONE" signs in Montana with no speed limit afterwards from when either there was no speed limit or the limit was known to be 55

California uses this as well.  I actually do not know what the legal default speed limit is in California.  I had thought it was 55, so when I saw an END SPEED ZONE at the edge of a town, I sped up to 55.  the next speed limit sign, about 5 miles down the road, was a 65.  the one going the opposite way was 65 as well, so it turns out I did 58 in a 65 for about 5 miles.

[DSS5]

North Carolina has this noise all over the place.

[The High Plains Traveler]

My employer built a new power plant out in the middle of rangeland, so there were no passable roads to the site. The nearest connection to an existing road is about 3-1/2 miles. Building a road to the site was the first part of the project. During plant construction, the road was gravel and was posted with a 30 mph speed limit on MUTCD-passable signs. After completion of construction, the road was paved and is now a city street, since it is now in the long-range planning document. The city has not posted any of its signage on the road, with the non-MUTCD signage remaining, and from what I was told the plant had to do snow plowing. 

I wonder about the enforceability of this speed limit, since the signs were not posted by the city and I don't know whether the city has adopted an official speed limit for the street. For all I know, the enforceable speed limit could be the state default of 55. Since the only traffic is to and from the plant, I've never seen law enforcement, and I usually drive 45.

[sp_redelectric]

In Oregon, many remote highways (even state maintained ones) don't post any speed limit signs (or do it very infrequently)...Oregon just needs to man up and raise the maximum speed limit to something like 75, because 55 is a complete joke.

As long as Portland is in control, be lucky the speed limit is 55.  There are planners who actively encourage reducing speed limits even lower, including arterial speed limits at 25 MPH (yes, they exist in Portland), and want to even reduce residential speed limits as low as 15 MPH.

A recent attempt to increase freeway speed limits came with such strange demands, such as distances to hospitals in the event of a major wreck.  The result?  The only speed limits that increased were urban freeways - I-84 east of I-205 saw its speed limit increase from 55 to 60, as did I-5 in Salem and Eugene.  When it comes to Eastern Oregon, there is reality, and there are the lawmakers and policy makers that forget that Oregon exists east of Timberline Lodge by a couple hundred miles.