Editorial: Lowering speed limit on stretch of I-85 good idea
Published: September 25, 2009
Sammy Hagar, of rock fame, cannot “Drive 55.” But most motorists on today’s interstate highways have difficulty driving whatever the posted speed limit is, whether it’s 55, 65, or 70.
Since May 1996, speed limits through rural areas of Alabama have been 70 mph. This includes Interstate 85 through Lee County, which is designated as a rural stretch of highway. Times have changed. The area is growing exponentially. With that, we see a dramatic increase of traffic, which can contribute to an increased number of automobile accidents.
We don’t see high-rise buildings along the interstate through Opelika and Auburn, but the area is leaning more and more toward becoming urban rather than rural. Developments at TigerTown, Bent Creek Road and the growth of the South College Street commercial area are testament to that.
Add U.S. Highway 280 in Opelika to the mix, and suddenly Interstate 85 becomes a major thoroughfare. U.S. Highway 280 was re-routed onto Interstate 85 between exits 62 and 58, where it veers back toward the northwest and Birmingham. That stretch of interstate highway is the most-traveled in the area, is regarded as the most dangerous in the area and it’s time officials do something to make it safer.
Opelika Mayor Gary Fuller is taking measures to see that it is. The mayor said he will draft a letter and send it to the Alabama Department of Transportation in hopes of getting the speed limit changed. He did not indicate his slower proposal would be 65 or 55 mph, but said, “speed is a killer.”
“We’ve had 11 accidents just in the month of August and two were fatal,” he said. “We’re writing a number of tickets, but it’s not slowing them.”
We hope that ALDOT, which still foresees an overhaul in that four-mile stretch that includes an increase from four lanes to six lanes, will consider Fuller’s plea. Lowering the speed limit from 70 mph to 55 mph truly is not very much of an inconvenience to motorists for such a small stretch of highway, particularly when their safety is the most pressing matter.
Until then, please observe the speed limit and help what is already a dangerous stretch of interstate not become more treacherous.
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Reader Reactions
Another problem are these Dang cell phones. Speed and distractions do not mix!
I drive HWY 280 from Opelika to Columbus and people are all over the road & shoulders, and speed varrying by up to 10 miles per hour. I have traveled with packs of cars where these cell phone users are on the phone the whole 35 mile distance. What is so important that at 7am that has to be talked about? Putting their lives and mine in jeopardy?
AlabamaDrvr, I understand the whole 85 percentile speed fomula, but the speed that these people drive on 85, especially southbound by exit 62/64 on the curve, is way too fast. We need more police in that area to slow these people down. I like Skegeebp51 drive the speed limit and sometimes 5MPH over but get left standing still or being annoyingly “drafted”(tailgated) for lack of better terms.
the problem is NO STATE TROOPER PRESENT IN THE AREA.I ride the speed limit,but people pass me and leave me way behind.If they cannot do their jobs why are they out there riding in all of those gas guzzlers then?If my boss ask me for a days work for a days wager,why can’t they do it? In this country the NORM is to excuse elected officials of their duties we elect them to do.IF THEY DO THEIR JOBS EXCEPT FOR WHEN THEY HAVE THOSE “TAKE BACK OUR ROADS”,WEEKENDS-IS A DAILY DUTY.Instead of on certain days.The post is in opelika,so why can’t they patrol the stretch of I-85??? lazy doing nothing!!!
Politicians need to stay out of the business of setting speed limits. Gary Fuller knows about as much about setting speed limits as Britney Spears does about Quantum Physics. According to traffic engineering principles, speed limits need to be set at the 85th percentile speed, the speed at which 85 percent of traffic is traveling at or below. A traffic study needs to be completed before the Mayors idiotic request can be processed. Given current operating speeds, it is likely that the speed limit should remain where it is. If it drops, the speed limit should reflect the 85th percentile speed of free flowing traffic. Ir that is 65 mph, so be it, but Gary Fuller and the rest of the speed nanny politicians should back off.
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