Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Legislation would raise speed limit to 70 mph
Bills passed by the House and Senate propose raising the limit on portions of state routes.
General Assembly 2011
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RICHMOND -- Lead-footed drivers take note. The General Assembly and Gov. Bob McDonnell are about to give you a little leeway on some portions of Virginia's interstate highways.
The state House and Senate passed bills Tuesday that would increase the maximum speed limit on interstate highways to 70 miles per hour, a proposal McDonnell championed during his campaign for governor last year. McDonnell said he wants to increase highway speed limits from 65 mph in rural and less populated areas of the state.
Each house must pass the other's bill before the measures go to the governor's desk. The law would not take effect until July 1, and transportation officials still would have to determine where it would be safe to increase speed limits.
But McDonnell wasted no time declaring a legislative victory Tuesday.
"This slight increase in our speed limit will be safe for motorists and help get Virginians to their destinations a little quicker each day," McDonnell said in a statement issued shortly after the bills passed. "This is an important early step towards our common goal of improving transportation in the Commonwealth."
The bills passed by the Senate and House of Delegates would increase maximum speed limits on interstates; other multilane, divided, limited-access highways; and high-occupancy vehicle lanes that are separated from other travel lanes.
Since Congress repealed the National Maximum Speed Limit law in 1995, 33 states have increased speed limits to 70 mph on at least some highway segments. Another 13 states have 75 mph limits, according to the governor's office.
The bills passed Tuesday do not specify where speed limits would be increased. State transportation officials will make those decisions after conducting engineering studies and reviewing accident and law enforcement data.
The state now has a 70 mph limit on Interstate 85 between Petersburg and the North Carolina line.
The bills drew some opposition from the insurance industry, which warned that higher speed limits would lead to more severe accidents. There is also the issue of increased fuel consumption. But the measures had broad, bipartisan support in the Capitol.
The House passed its version (HB 856) of the bill by a vote of 71-26. The Senate passed its version (SB 537) by a vote of 29-11 after a brief floor debate. Del. Bill Carrico, R-Grayson County and Sen. Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg, sponsored the bills.
Carrico, a retired state trooper, called the legislation a "common-sense reform" that would help highway traffic move at a more uniform speed.
The bill's opponents included Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County, McDonnell's rival in the governor's race. During a brief Senate floor debate, Deeds questioned the wisdom of increasing speed limits at a time when the state lacks the funding to improve its congestion-plagued transportation system.
"This is one more bill that does nothing to solve the problems we have," Deeds said.
