Life at 85mph

"Texican" (Corsair75) 05/02/2015 at 09:15 • Filed to: None

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Texas is awesome. We have breakfast tacos, barbeque, and some of the fastest speed limits in the country. For those of you not fortunate enough to reside in the Lone Star State, I thought I would share some of the pros and cons of the fast life. As modern cars continue to increase in capability and safety, more and more of you lucky Jalops will know the joy of blowing by a state trooper at 80+ mph while being a safe and responsible driver.

So first off, lets cover some basics

1) Texas is really big

Texas covers more than 268,000 square miles (696,000 sqkm for you metric folks). !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ,

TxDOT maintains more than 79,000 miles of farm-to-market, ranch-to-market, state, U.S. and interstate highways. That’s more roadway than any other state.

We measure the distance between cities in hours, and we love to travel. Every day, lots of people are making the trek between Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and points beyond. We have places to go, people to see and a single regulatory body overseeing our travels.

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The 80+ mph areas are all pretty unpopulated, but the ‘normal’ speed limit immediately outside of the cities is 75mph. These are busy highways full of cars and trucks. Virtually every Texas driver experiences high speed driving at least occasionally

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because of course we do

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Well this part is pretty obvious. You get to go faster! In real world terms, this is a good thing even though it really doesn’t save *that* much time. It comes down to a few minutes over a hundred miles. The real benefit is that you feel like you’re going faster, and that keeps you alert and engaged. The slog from Houston to San Antonio and back used to be awful. It’s the same roads, and only a slightly higher speed, but now it feels like you’re doing something. This applies doubly for 80mph sections and triple at 85.

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A few things it turns out

Not everything can/should go 85mph

Or even 75mph. Big trucks are the obvious issue, as many of them are limited around 65mph. That leads to some downright scary speed differentials when things really get going. If two trucks pass, everybody has to slam on the brakes to wait it out.

To a lesser degree, you get work trucks and beaters that can’t maintain the pace either. As much as I hate to admit it, this whole thing would be much more difficult in a world where cash for clunkers never happened. The issue with slow vehicles is simple, you change lanes ALOT. This is part of the reason the ride is more engaging, but it makes for some hairy situations at times.

Some people have nerves of mashed potatoes

Lots of drivers kind of suck at it, so asking them to efficiently route around slow movers can be a big ask. Especially as things get crowded. You need to be on your game to avoid the people that don’t have any. Sometimes its an old floating down the highway in a shiny Panther, or somebody pulling a Flanders over there in the right lane. There’s a reason that the 75mph limits haven’t spread to the urban cores. There is a section of the driving population that really seems to have trouble with the rapid pace.

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Sooner or later, probably. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

More states are allowing drivers to put the pedal to the metal. Besides Texas, three other states now have top speeds of at least 80 mph — Idaho, Utah and Wyoming — with another dozen pushing their limits up to 75. It’s been four decades since the Mideast oil shock rattled the nation and Congress enacted a national 55 mph speed limit to conserve scarce fuel

Cars are getting better, both in terms of capability and safety. We may even see autonomous cars added to the mix sooner than we think. As more time passes, we’ll also accumulate increasing data that safety doesn’t have an arbitrary limit at 70mph. Combine those factors and we’ll all be moving faster soon. In the meantime just come to Texas, get a breakfast taco and take a spin.

Ark > Texican 05/02/2015 at 09:23

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If two trucks pass, everybody has to slam on the brakes to wait it out.

Bastards.

Vimto > Texican 05/02/2015 at 09:24

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I guess I am a heretic but I am perfectly fine with 65-70 mph speed limits. Cars typically lose a significant amount of fuel efficiency at 80 mph and above, when I’m traveling hundreds of miles I’d rather save a decent amount of money getting better MPGs than arriving a little quicker.

ttyymmnn > Texican 05/02/2015 at 09:28

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About once a month I drive from Austin to Abilene. When they raised the limit on rural highways from 70 to 75, I shaved 10-15 minutes off my drive. And as fun as it is going 80 on TX 130, in many ways it’s more dangerous, since not everybody does it. It can be pretty nasty coming up on a pack of cars going 70 (or less). No, I-10 way out west? That’s a good road for 80. Or is it 85 out there?

Also, if you find yourself going the speed limit on any portion of I-35 between Austin and San Antonio, consider yourself blessed.

Tohru > Vimto 05/02/2015 at 10:11

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You don’t have to drive at the speed limit. That is just the maximum you can go. Most states that have a minimum speed limit have it at 20mph under the maximum speed limit. So you can legally do 65mph still.

tzx4 > Tohru 05/02/2015 at 10:24

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Just do like the do in Germany, absolutely keep right except to pass. Move to the left with care.

BTW when traffic get bogged down to a mere 90 MPH on the Autobahn I get all annoyed and impatient “come on folks let’s sort this out and get going again.

CAcoalminer > Texican 05/02/2015 at 11:17

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What part of Texas are you from?

Iosif Vissarionovich > Texican 05/02/2015 at 11:52

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Mean while in VA if you are going 80 mph, you are getting slammed with reckless driving. I totally agree on getting the speed limits raised, who do i send the money to? (mean, who do i lobby to?)

Texican > CAcoalminer 05/02/2015 at 14:25

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I’m originally from Houston, but I live in the Hill Country between Austin and San Antonio

Texican > ttyymmnn 05/02/2015 at 14:29

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I-10 is 80mph west of San Antonio. It’s quite a bit easier to drive than TX130. Less up, down and side to side so traffic moves smoother. I take 130 at least 3-4 times a month, and at times it does feel pretty sketchy. The slow moving traffic can really muck things up.

The 130 bypass is a blessing. I-35 sucks all the way through Austin. It’s actually pretty good these days south of Buda. The real problem is around Temple, where the construction is going full swing.

CAcoalminer > Texican 05/02/2015 at 14:29

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Oh really? Well, our main residence is in Dallas but we also have a ranch 15 minutes from downtown Fredericksburg.

Texican > Vimto 05/02/2015 at 14:36

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It’s a chicken and egg thing. Cars from the Claybrook-era were geared/tuned for 55mph, and got horrible mileage when we stepped up to 70. Add another gear to your transmission and jigger the final drive and the economy comes back. If 80mph became the norm, OEMs could recoup some of the mileage with proper gearing.

I get what you’re saying though. The 55mph mandate was based on fuel consumption, after all. Plenty of people poke along at 65mph, as I mention in the article. That favors 75mph as opposed to the (very) fast 85mph limits. Slow movers are no big deal on I-10, but kinda scary on TX130.

Texican > CAcoalminer 05/02/2015 at 14:41

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Cool! It’s really nice out there. I’m closer to Boerne now, but I’m probably going to move to Wimberley later this year.

ttyymmnn > Texican 05/02/2015 at 14:45

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And there are bridges falling on people around Belton. Once they finish the road—if they ever do—it should actually be pretty good. But there is still a ton of work to do between Temple and Waco.

Texican > ttyymmnn 05/02/2015 at 15:02

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It’s going to be years and years before they’re done. They’ll just move to the next section after that, too. I’ll at least give TXDOT credit for taking on big projects. The I-10 section on the west side of Houston took forever, but it’s great now. Tomball Parkway turned out nice too.

What worries me is the fact that so few new highways are getting built without tolls. I spend around $100/mo on tolls with all the traveling I do. Commutes would be far worse. You can see how it’s already turning into a two tiered system in Houston and DFW. Nice, well tended roads for people with money, and janky old roads for the poors :/

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Texican 05/02/2015 at 16:24

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I drove across TX once, it was a long, straight, flat hwy full of trucks trying to kill me. I did not like it there.

Me > Vimto 05/05/2015 at 09:28

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Then give everyone else the choice. Hard as it may be for you to believe, it’s not all about you.