<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Courtesy of the Kansas City Star at:</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: nowrap; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-text-size-adjust: none; "><a href="http://tinyurl.com/9hsu55n">http://tinyurl.com/9hsu55n</a></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">------------------------------------</div><div><div id="storyBody"><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "></p><h1 id="storyTitle" style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; "><font size="3"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Is Texas ready for 85-mph speed limit?</span></font></h1><p></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">For drivers who feel the need for speed, Wednesday is a big day in Texas.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A new 40-mile stretch of Texas 130 toll road bypassing Austin's east side will open with an 85-mph speed limit -- highest in the United States.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I think people will routinely pass me going 100. Regardless of the speed limit, there's always going to be people who want to go past it," said Jeff Gibeaux, a civil engineer in Lockhart who plans to take the high-speed road to Austin on occasion.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">While most states have raised speed limits gradually in recent years, Texas is going at it full throttle.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Since 2002, the Texas Department of Transportation -- at the urging of state lawmakers -- has raised the speed limit to 75 or 80 mph on nearly 6,507 miles of road.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Most of the increases have occurred since 2011, when a new state law broadened which roads qualified for higher speeds.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The speeds are now posted not only in rural areas but also on major roads such as Interstate 20 and Interstate 35 just outside Dallas-Fort Worth and other major metro areas.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">On about 1 in 12 miles of Texas roadway -- including interstates, small highways and farm-to-market roads -- motorists may now legally travel at speeds once considered excessive and dangerous.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Safety experts in the U.S. and Europe warn that fatalities and injury accidents are likely to rise. Texas' fatality rate is already higher than the national average, with 3,015 people killed on roads in 2011.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"You need to take measures to counteract an anticipated increase in deaths," said Veronique Feypell de la Beaumelle, an analyst with the International Transport Forum, which publishes a road safety annual report with crash data from the U.S. and 31 other countries.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But state officials say they don't necessarily expect more carnage. On the contrary, they point to statistics showing that fatalities are declining along some West Texas highways that were the first to get higher limits.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">They say their methods of studying a road before raising a speed limit are scientifically sound, although they are applied differently in various parts of the state.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Less certain is whether motorists have the proper training, or the self-discipline, to drive safely on a high-speed road. State officials say they are developing ways to promote better driving habits.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Last week, the Transportation Department began installing 3,400 signs reading "Left lane for passing only" on highways with a speed limit of 75 mph or more. The same message was flashed on more than 700 electronic highway signs statewide.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"We're going to have to teach Texans how to drive these safer speeds," said Bill Meadows of Fort Worth, a Texas Transportation Commission member.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Meanwhile, as lawmakers encourage the Transportation Department to raise speed limits in one county after another, researchers at organizations such as the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety are taking issue with some of the state's guiding principles for determining when to raise a speed limit.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">State officials have said they generally believe that motorists will drive at a comfortable speed, regardless of the posted limit, so it's important to set limits near the thresholds at which people are already traveling. But that philosophy can conflict with a belief held by critics who say drivers go whatever speed they think they can get away with and often exceed posted speeds because they perceive them to be conservative.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Economics are a factor, too.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The new section of Texas 130 toll road is being built by a private developer known as State Highway 130 Concession Co. Llc., which is led by the U.S. arm of Spain-based Cintra. Texas 130 is part of the Austin area's Central Texas Turnpike System.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The developer is spending $1.4 billion on the project for the right to collect tolls through Nov. 11, 2062. To protect its investment, the group is paying Texas an extra $100 million in return for setting an 85-mph limit, according to the contract.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The idea is to attract more motorists to the road with the promise of higher speeds, which in turn generates more toll revenue.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Speed studies</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">State law requires the Transportation Department to perform a speed study before raising the limit on a stretch of road but lets the agency decide how to go about it.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Two of the agency's top safety officials demonstrated the process for the Star-Telegram this month on a stretch of Texas 130 that is already open north of Austin. There, the limit was raised to 80 mph this year, and the road could be a candidate for 85 mph in the near future, they said.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The first step in the speed study was for the pair of state employees to conduct a "trial run" of the 19-mile stretch. Darren McDaniel, a speed zone engineer for the department's Austin district, was given the task of driving the length of the road in a department pickup. Carol Rawson, director of the state's traffic operations division, sat in a passenger seat and took notes on McDaniel's speed.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">McDaniel purposefully avoided looking at his speedometer and focused instead on driving at a speed he felt comfortable with -- most of the time, he was going 80 to 82 mph.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The two were helped in their work by a couple of gadgets installed in the truck: a digital instrument to help Rawson track the speed without having to continuously look at the dashboard and an inclinometer mounted on the dash that was programmed to sound an alarm if the truck took a curve with too much gravitational force.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The duo also took notes on factors such as visibility on the road and the amount of clear space available on the shoulders and in the median, in case a motorist has to take evasive action.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Texas highways are typically designed to accommodate speeds of at least 70 mph -- the state's default limit until a speed study can be conducted, six months or more after a road opens to the public.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But roads can be designed for higher or lower speeds.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">For example, a small portion of the planned Chisholm Trail Parkway in southwest Fort Worth is being designed for 50 mph to ensure that traffic goes relatively slowly through some old neighborhoods.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And, as with the Texas 130 extension, roads can be designed to accommodate 85-mph limits from their first day open to traffic.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The next step in the speed study was taking a sample of at least 125 randomly selected cars to determine how fast people are traveling on the road -- typically known as an 85th percentile test.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">McDaniel and Rawson parked their truck on an overpass in Pflugerville near Austin and, using a laser gun like what police use to issue traffic tickets, they determined that 85 percent of the vehicles on this stretch of Texas 130 were traveling 83 mph or less.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">As a result, the road was a candidate for an 80- or 85-mph speed limit, they said.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The idea is to set a speed limit so that 85 percent of motorists are obeying the law. Rawson said it's a commonly accepted standard in traffic-engineering circles that 85 percent of drivers are traveling at a safe, comfortable speed -- regardless of the posted limit.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Most people drive what's safe and prudent, because we know people aren't wanting to hurt themselves," she said.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"They're not wanting to get into a crash. Most importantly, they want to get where they're going, so generally they're going to drive a speed that's reasonable, and that's what we're looking for."</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">'A moving target'</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A top official at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research organization that tracks collision data throughout the U.S., said placing so much weight on the 85th percentile standard is leading states such as Texas to raise speed limits beyond reasonable levels.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"The 85th percentile is a moving target," institute President Adrian Lund said. "People do pay attention to the speed limit: They use it as a guideline and figure out how much faster they can go without getting a ticket. Gradually, you end up with the same number of people exceeding the speed limit that you had before. There's an assumption that the government is always conservative, so if 85 is the speed limit, then 90 and 95 must be safe, right?"</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Higher speed limits could hit Texans in the pocketbook, too. If accidents increase, the cost of auto insurance will go up, David Snyder, vice president of the American Insurance Association predicted in a 2011 column that ran in the Star-Telegram.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Texas' fatality rate is already higher than the national average, and Texans pay some of the highest insurance rates.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Lawmakers' mandate</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In April 2011, a state House transportation committee approved a bill that gave the Transportation Department power to raise the speed limit to 75, 80 or 85 mph on thousands of miles of the highway system, as long as a speed study was conducted on at least one place in each segment of roadway.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The bill, which eventually became law, also eliminated lower speed limits for trucks and for all traffic at night.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The lone vote against the bill was from Rep. Yvonne Davis, D-Dallas.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"When you've got as many inexperienced drivers on our highways as we do, the last thing you want is people going 75, 80, 85 mph," Davis said this month in an interview. "I thought the whole notion of raising the speed limit that high was crazy."</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The bill passed without comment, although Davis said it was clear in the Capitol hallways that the measure had plenty of support -- particularly among rural lawmakers who were hearing from constituents that they wanted to legally drive faster.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"It probably started with the rural representatives," Davis said. "But these speed limits are in urban centers, too."</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Support for higher speeds tends to be particularly strong in cities that stand to benefit economically from the lure of traffic, although projects such as the Texas 130 extension can also brew controversy.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">About 30 miles southeast of Austin, the new Texas 130 extension leads to Lockhart, a city of about 13,000 that is known for its barbecue joints.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Residents aren't too happy that the speed limit on the frontage roads of U.S. 183 running parallel to the Texas 130 extension has been lowered from 65 to 55 mph.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">State officials have said the lower limit is needed because commercial development is springing up along the frontage roads, creating a safety issue for motorists pulling in and out of driveways.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But many residents say the real motivation is to force traffic onto the 85-mph toll road.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And on the toll road, there is little opposition to the 85-mph limit.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"We're thrilled about it," said Wendy Ramsey, owner of Wendy R Gift Shop on the town square. She regularly drives 80 mph on the portion of Texas 130 that's already open and, beginning Wednesday, she fully expects to drive 85 mph on the new part of the toll road.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"There's so few cars on 130 at this point," she said, "that right now it seems safe."</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">---------------</span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: nowrap; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-text-size-adjust: none; ">Other states have gradually raised speed limits, but Texas is doing so at a fast pace, thanks largely to a 2011 law. </span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: nowrap; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-text-size-adjust: none; "> </span></p><p style="margin: 0.7em 0px; "><img src="cid:31FB4561-2885-45F8-9FBA-9015BC35B368" alt="1li9zB.St.58.jpeg" id="31FB4561-2885-45F8-9FBA-9015BC35B368" width="610" height="416"></p></div></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">------------------------------------<br><br><div>Seeya at the polls, Moscow, because . . .</div><div><br></div><div>"Moscow Cares"</div><div><a href="http://www.MoscowCares.com">http://www.MoscowCares.com</a></div><div> </div><div><div>Tom Hansen</div><div>Moscow, Idaho</div><div><br></div><div>"We're a town of about 23,000 with 10,000 college students. The college students are not very active in local elections (thank goodness!)."</div><div><br></div><div>- Dale Courtney (March 28, 2007)</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div> </div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>