New Mexico's weird low Speed limits (Las Cruces, Las Vegas: dangerous, legal, car)
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Should any state introduce an 80 mph bill for Interstates, New Mexico is the only state that I see it passing. Arizona has attempted it in the past and it failed due to lawmakers' reluctance to increase the state's criminal speeding threshold, and there aren't very many highways in Colorado where you can really apply an 80 mph speed limit. North Dakota had a bill earlier this year and it failed.
I believe there are areas along I-10 in Texas where the speed limit is 85 and a few places in Utah with speed limits of 80.
Currently, the states with 80 mph zones are Idaho, Montana, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. I would not be surprised if New Mexico is the next state to allow it. Texas is the only state that allows 85, and it is only on the SH 130 tollway.
Texas bases it's 80 mph zones on population density per county (with the exception of toll roads). I think the criteria has to be 5-10 people per square mile in a county.
I wish Oklahoma would go 75 mph on it's non toll interstate highways. It's been on the books for like 20 years but has not been implemented.
Also don't forget numerous speed traps on tribal land. One that comes to mind on the Navajo rez is from 55 to 15 to 25 to 35 to 55 again, all in about a 1/4 mile through a village.
Should any state introduce an 80 mph bill for Interstates, New Mexico is the only state that I see it passing. Arizona has attempted it in the past and it failed due to lawmakers' reluctance to increase the state's criminal speeding threshold, and there aren't very many highways in Colorado where you can really apply an 80 mph speed limit. North Dakota had a bill earlier this year and it failed.
1) If Arizona were to introduce the 80 mph speed limit, I would only see it on I-10 between Tucson and the New Mexico state line, and I-8 between Yuma and Casa Grande. And the speeding threshold would have to be raised to 92 mph. That being said, there are several stretches of 4-lane divided roads that aren't freeways where the speed limit could be 70 or 75 mph (e.g. US 93 between I-40 and US 60, AZ 85 between Gila Bend and Buckeye).
2) But yes, I would see New Mexico introducing the 80 mph limit more likely than Arizona. But only certain stretches would have the speed limit raised to 80: I-25 between Socorro and Las Cruces, I-10 between Las Cruces and the Arizona state line, and I-25 between Las Cruces and Raton. I don't think I-40 should have the 80 mph limit because of the heavy truck traffic. Anyways, I feel some 2-lane roads with shoulders ought to have a 70 mph speed limit, like US 380 between San Antonio and Carrizozo. And US 285 between Roswell and Vaughn should be 75 mph as there are no intersections.
Regarding I-10, the speed limit should be raised to 75 mph between Motel Blvd and the Las Cruces airport (65 seems slow on that stretch). I-25 between Albuquerque and Bernalillo was raised to 75 mph just over four years ago, and it has more traffic considering Albuquerque is more densely populated than Las Cruces. However, if you were to implement an 80 mph limit on I-10 in NM, I'd say have it 80 between the AZ state line and the border patrol checkpoint, and then drop it to 75 mph from there until Motel Blvd in Las Cruces,
Edit: I meant to say I-25 between Las Vegas and Raton regarding stretches of Interstate in NM that ought to implement an 80 mph speed limit.
Anyways, I mentioned NM 599 having a weird low speed limit between Airport Rd. and its northern terminus at US 84/285. It should be 65 mph on that stretch, but have advisory speeds of 55 mph at sharp curves and at-grade intersections.
Why the need to be in such a hurry all of the time? Need to get somewhere sooner? Just leave earlier! The highest posted speed limit anywhere in my current state (Alaska) is 65 and on my recent trip to NM it took a while to adjust to going faster. On I-25 between SF and LV I often found myself "poking along" at 65 just because that's what I'm used to. I just stayed in the right lane and no one bothered me....just sped on by. And if you reduce it to a math problem you will find that you don't really gain a whole lot of time with 10-15 mph more of speed.
It's not so much of being in a hurry. It's that in much of the western United States and parts of the Great Plains (especially South Dakota), speed limits on interstates have been raised to 80 mph because of very good visibility and not much traffic on some highways. I-25 between Socorro and Las Cruces has hardly any traffic, and same with the stretch between Raton and Las Vegas. And I think those stretches ought to have their speed limits bumped up to 80. It's the same reason much of I-10 in Texas between El Paso and San Antonio is 80 mph, same with I-20 between its western terminus and Midland/Odessa.
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