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Before the introduction of the National Maximum Speed Limit in January 1974, many states east of the Mississippi had daytime speed limits of 65 on two lane roads. Now only parts of Florida, Ohio and Michigan allow speed limits above 55 on two lane roads.
My Honda Civic let's me see how well my MPG is on each driving trip I take, and when I'm going 75 on the PA Turnpike, I get MPG at or even slightly above what the EPA says my car will get on the highway, so I don't know how true that is with all newer engines... Sorry, no one is going to go only 55 in the middle of nowhere no matter how much they care about going green lol.
If you want to save gas and emissions, not flooring your gas pedal and keeping a constant speed is a much more viable way to do it, and maybe we should encourage people to not buy these excessively large trucks and SUVs too...
You will get MUCH better mileage at 55 MPH.
You cannot repeal the laws of physics. Pushing air aside with a car takes LOTS of energy!!
Before the introduction of the National Maximum Speed Limit in January 1974, many states east of the Mississippi had daytime speed limits of 65 on two lane roads. Now only parts of Florida, Ohio and Michigan allow speed limits above 55 on two lane roads.
It does not matter what the speed limit is in Florida. Between the traffic, the tourists and the retirees, you're lucky if you can do over 45 mph. I never knew how slow people could drive until I moved here. Crawling behind people doing 20 mph can be frustrating bordering on torture.
I find it rather amusing that people go out and buy Ferraris, Lamborghinis and other hot cars for hundreds of thousands of dollars. There is nowhere here to drive them fast other than racetracks.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Ours is 70, and that seems appropriate to me. It gets you where you are going in a decent amount of time, without being dangerously fast (with our traffic) and above 70 our car and truck will both take a significant drop in MPG. Generally I will set the cruise control for 72-73 in a 70 zone but in some areas, especially in summer there is so much traffic that going even 50 may be optimistic.
Maryland
--Toll roads (if present) -- we have tolls at a few spots on I-95, but we don't really have "toll roads" per se, unless you want to count the separate toll lanes on I-95 north of Baltimore. I believe the speed limit is 65, which seems appropriate.
--Rural freeways -- 70 max, which seems right.
--Two-lane parkways (if present) -- we have a few, but they're too short to really be worth a separate category. I'd probably say that 60 would be about right.
--Urban freeways -- they max out at 55, which I think works.
--Rural four-lane divided highways -- I'm not sure what the speed limit on those is; probably 55. There are some (such as U.S. 50 on the Eastern Shore below Cambridge) where 65 would be appropriate.
--Rural four-lane undivided highways -- Not sure if we have any of those. I'd say 55 would be good.
--Rural two-lane roads with large shoulders -- I think 55 is the max for these, which I think makes sense.
--Rural two-lane state roads without large shoulders -- varies widely, depending on the road.
--Rural two-lane county roads -- same.
One thing that hasn't really been touched on is that topography plays a big role in what the speed limits are/should be. A rural freeway going through the mountains should have a lower speed limit than the same road crossing the prairie, for example. So it's hard to say what a statewide maximum should be, because some states have a variety of topography.
Rural 2 lane state/county roads: 55. Should vary. Narrow county roads in hilly areas with no shoulders should stay at 55. State highways with wide shoulders could safely be 65 or 70. Most county roads in the most of the state could safely be 65.
Iowa has historically been one of the slowest states west of the Mississippi, and it doesn't make much sense to me. The majority of roads are straight, fairly flat, and there just isn't much to impair visibility. Our rural speed limits are extremely cautious and simply don't make sense in this day and age.
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