Texas May Be First State to Have 85 MPH Speed Limit [POLL]

What would you say if you could  drive 85 mph — legally? Rev up your engines, because according to the Texas Department of Transportation, a stretch of highway under construction here in Texas could be the first U.S. to have a posted speed limit of 85 mph.

Texas State Highway 130 will run between San Antonio and Austin to take traffic loads off of Interstate 35.  Highway 130 is being built parallel to Interstate 35 because I-35 was  the  fourth-most congested road in Texas last year.

Most of Highway 130 is already built — and speed limits are posted at 80 mph — with the remaining section set to open before the end of this year.

Here’s what Darren McDaniel, the Texas Department of Transportation’s speed management director, had to say at a conference Wednesday in San Antonio:

We’ll definitely take a look at that stretch, and we will conduct speed studies to see what that speed limit will be. The more people we can get to travel a uniform speed, the safer are the conditions that will exist.”

McDaniel was referring to a recent study that indicated most people were already traveling at speeds of 85 mph among slower drivers.

Utah is the only state to have an 80 mph speed limit on any highway, and creating an 85 mph in Texas would make the fastest in the country.

What do you think? Vote in the poll.