Michigan Raises Some Speed Limits To 75 mph

Jan. 06--TRAVERSE CITY -- Michigan drivers will be able to push the gas pedal a little harder on some of the state's roads.

Gov. Rick Snyder signed a bundle of legislation Thursday that will increase the speed limits of 600 miles of freeway to 75 mph and 900 miles of state highway to 65 mph, and increase the maximum truck speed limit to 65 mph.

Michigan Department of Transportation and State Police officials will accelerate work to determine candidate roadways for the heightened speed limits.

"MDOT has always been neutral on these bills, but they're now signed into law," said James Lake, a media representative for MDOT's north region. "As required, we will move forward with the Michigan State Police to implement the new laws."

The first step will be to conduct various safety and engineering studies to identify roadways where officials believe speeds could be increased safely. Roads with a majority of cars already exceeding the 55 mph and 70 mph speed limits likely will see the increased speed limits.

Some of the speed studies must be done with clear pavement, forcing officials to wait for the snow to melt in the spring before starting, Lake said. Much of the freeway data has already been collected meaning officials will identify freeway candidates first.

A variety of factors will be studied and considered when determining what routes to accelerate, Lake said, including traffic volumes, numbers of intersections and driveways along the route, and crash patterns.

Most of the states "M" highways will be reviewed during the study. Leelanau County Sheriff Mike Borkovich hopes officials avoid raising the speed limits on M-22 and the other highways that run through the county.

"I tend to support whatever they come up with," Borkovich said. "But, certainly with this county, with the curves and hills, I think they should stay at 55 (mph)."

Lake previously said Grand Traverse area roads could be picked, though he pointed to likely candidates including U.S. 131 north of Kent County up to the Manton area, U.S. 127 north of Clare and I-75 north of Saginaw.

Jim Cook, Grand Traverse County Road Commission manager, said even if some of the county's roads did see faster speeds, he doubts they would substantially impact the roads themselves.

"I suppose in theory it could lead to additional wear," he said. "But at this point, it's so minor that it probably is pretty negligible."

The speed limit increase will result in a number of road infrastructure changes, from replacing speed limit signs, to long-term work involving road improvements, like adding more guard rails and flattening various road sections, Lake said.

States including North Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and others feature roadways with speed limits at 75 mph, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. State officials could look to those states for guidance, Lake said, though Michigan's terrain will present differing issues.

"Michigan is unique in that we are a peninsula state," he said. "To make direct comparisons between Michigan's roads and other roads may not be a good guide for us."

Officials will continue working to implement the speed limit changes, which must be completed within one year.

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