If the Lege has its way, in addition to being able to drive 85 on the Interstates, you will also be able to drive 75 on some other highways.
Legislation that would eliminate lower nighttime speed limits in Texas, allow trucks to drive at the same speed as cars on all highways and authorize rural highway limits of 75 mph statewide was given initial approval by the Texas House on Friday . The so-called debate — no House member had questions or comments for the bill sponsor — lasted about three minutes, and House Bill 1353 passed on a voice vote without opposition.
The legislation by state Rep. Gary Elkins, R-Houston , will need one more House vote before moving to the Senate, where Elkins said that Transportation Committee chairman Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, has agreed to carry the bill.
The legislation would abolish the 5 mph differential between day and night limits on many Texas highways. And in the 150 or so Texas counties, most of them in the eastern half of the state, where the maximum speed limit on rural highways is now 70 mph , the Texas Department of Transportation would be allowed to up it to 75 mph, following traffic and engineering studies.
Large trucks, now limited to 60 mph on farm-to-market roads, would have the same speed limit as other vehicles. Advocates for Elkins’ bill say that the difference in speed among various vehicles sharing the road — rather than higher speeds — more often leads to accidents.
[…]
Elkins said his main interest was in getting rid of the nighttime lower limits. Texas, according to an analysis by the Legislature’s House Research Organization, is the only state that still has lower night speed limits. That analysis says that better headlights have made such a deduction an anachronism.
That final House vote will be today, according to the Chron story. I presume this would apply to US and state highways, so if it passes you may be able to (legally) crank it up to 75 on US 290 in the rural areas where the limit is now 70. I don’t really have anything to add to this, so let me play the video again, because really, you just can’t get too much Sammy Hagar:
That will never get old.