Virginia is taking to the road to determine which highways it will bump up to a 70 mph speed limit.
The Virginia Department of Transportation is considering 741 miles of highway for the speed increase authorized by the General Assembly this year.
The study is divided into three phases. The first two phases have already started on portions of Interstates 64, 66, 77, 81, 95 and 295 that have low to moderate congestion, said VDOT spokeswoman Marshall Barnhill.
Phase 3, which has not begun, includes portions of Interstates 64, 95, 295 and 395 — areas with more congestion and more accidents.
Though the new law allows the speed limit to be increased as early as July 1, the tentative deadline for Phases 2 and 3 of the study is late fall, Barnhill said.
Consultants working with VDOT will look at speed data, road characteristics, traffic flow and other factors to determine whether a highway would be eligible for the speed increase. They also will work with local and state police to determine crash history and danger zones.
Barnhill said the VDOT studies will determine what safety upgrades — such as rumble strips and guard rails — are necessary before the highways can be bumped up to 70 mph.
After VDOT makes its recommendations, Acting VDOT Commissioner Gregory Whirley will have the final call on which highways will get higher speed limits.
Thirty-three states have moved speed limits to 70 mph or higher since the federal government repealed the national maximum speed limit in 1995, said Russ Rader, spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit research group funded by insurance companies. Those increases have led to more fatalities on the road, Rader said.
“Study after study confirms the direct correlation between higher speeds and more highway deaths,” he said.
A 2009 study in the American Journal of Public Health attributed an estimated 12,500 deaths to increased speed limits across the country since 1995.
