Speed limit to rise on rural I-35, I-40
In rural areas, the top speed will be 75 mph once new signs are in place
Road trips to Dallas will soon take a little less time.
The Oklahoma Transportation Commission voted Monday to raise the speed limit to 75 mph on nearly 400 miles of the rural portions of Interstate 35 and Interstate 40.
On I -35, the speed limit will be raised from 70 mph to 75 mph from the Texas state line north for 90.2 miles to near Purcell. The same speed limit increase will apply to an 88.6-mile stretch of I-35 that goes from j ust north of the Oklahoma-Logan County line to the Kansas state line.
Motorists on I-40 also will see the speed limit raised to 75 mph from the Texas border east for 32 miles to near Elk City, for 22.1 miles from east of Elk City to just west of Clinton, for 50.1 miles from just east of Weatherford to near Yukon, and for 115.7 miles from just east of Shawnee to near Sallisaw.
The speed limit changes won't become effective until the new speed limit signs are manufactured and posted, which is expected to take about two months. In the meantime, the lower posted speed limits will continue to be enforced, said Tim Gatz, executive director of the Oklahoma Transportation Commission.
The speed limit on the interstates in the Oklahoma City urban area will remain unchanged.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol is planning enhanced enforcement efforts, with no tolerance for speeders, once the new speed limits are posted, said Terri Angier, state Transportation Department spokeswoman.
Monday's action by t he Oklahoma Transportation Commission was similar to action taken by the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority last week when Turnpike Authority board members voted to increase the speed limit on certain rural sections of six Oklahoma turnpikes to 80 mph.
Both actions were prompted by the Oklahoma Legislature' s passage last year of House Bill 1071, which authorized the transportation boards to raise the speed limit for rural interstates to 75 mph and rural turnpikes to 80 mph if studies by traffic engineers indicated the higher speed limits would be safe and reasonable.
"We looked at several safety factors, road way geometry and sight distance, accident and collision histories, traffic flows and existing speed patterns to really take a deep and detailed dive into each one of these locations to make sure that the recommendations are supported by the engineering," Gatz said.
Even though the engineering study was thorough,
Gatz described the study as a "living document" that will be reviewed regularly to see if the speed limit change has consequences that would warrant additional adjustments.
Commissioners approved the speed limit increase by a 6-2 vote, with commissioners Don Freymiller and Bob Peterson voting against the change.
Angier said Freymiller and Peterson both own trucking companies and have concerns that raising the speed limit will increase the speed differential between cars and large trucks, many of which have devices installed that limit their maximum speeds to about 65 mph. The difference in speeds creates safety issues.
In other action, the Oklahoma Transportation Commission approved a $879 million, five-year construction work plan for the County Improvement Roads & Bridges program. The plan calls for replacing or rehabilitating 313 bridges on the county system and improving 585 miles of county roads in the next five years. Of the bridges slated for work, 151 are either structural ly deficient or functionally obsolete, officials said.