2nd-Fastest Speed Limit in World Coming to Texas?

A stretch of highway through Texas could soon have the highest officially posted speed limit in the Western hemisphere. State officials are considering an 85mph limit along a portion of new Highway 130 running between San Antonio and Austin. Critics say the speed boost will cost lives, but the state speed management director says the safest roads are ones where all motorists travel the same speed—and studies on the new stretch find most drivers zooming along at 85mph. "The more people we can get to travel a uniform speed, the safer the conditions," he noted.

Texas and Utah are currently the only states with posted speed limits of 80mph on existing roads. If the change goes through, Texas would have second highest posted speed in the world. A few roads in Poland allow 86mph. Some Western states and Germany have roadways with no posted speed limits, notes Reuters. (More speed limit stories.)