The Utah Department of Transportation is preparing to switch more than 1,000 speed-limit signs around the state to reflect higher limits likely to be permitted by the Legislature this winter.
The change approaches after Tuesday's announcement that Washington is doing away with federal speed limits, effective Dec. 12.UDOT maintains 5,812 miles of roadway around the state, including city streets that would be unaffected. Many thoroughfares, however, are likely to see a speed-limit increase.
"Generally, what we expect is that the interstates through urban areas would probably go to 65 mph and in rural areas to 70 mph," said Kent Hansen, a department spokesman who predicted legislators might leave the details to UDOT rather than mandate certain speeds.
Many two-lane, 55-mph roads in Utah could also see increases to 65 mph, said Hansen.
Interstate speed limits are now 65 mph in rural areas and 55 mph in cities.
While Utah has been at the vanguard of Western states bucking for a repeal of the 21-year-old national speed limit imposed during the oil crisis of a generation ago, local changes would not be as radical as those expected in some places. Many states have laws that will automatically kick in and raise limits considerably. Montana will have no speed limit at all; the ceiling will jump to 75 mph in Kansas, Nevada and Wyoming.
Law-enforcement agencies in Utah have been vague in their recommendations on impending speed-limit changes, waiting for lawmakers to take the lead. Most officials say alterations will occur on an individual basis and - especially in the case of two-lane roads - depend on recommendations by highway engineers.
"We support a rational approach to determine what the speed should be on any given road," said Verdi White II, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, which administers the Utah Highway Patrol.
Sterling Davis, UDOT's engineer for traffic and safety, said the increases being most talked about will probably mirror what the traveling public is already practicing.
UDOT studies have shown for some time that most motorists fail to heed the speed limit on many highways, particularly urban interstates.
"It's kind of sad to say, but I think the fastest average speeds in Utah are in the Salt Lake Valley," said Davis. Drivers going from downtown Salt Lake City via I-15 to Point of the Mountain near the Utah County line typically travel 70 mph, he said. The speed limit on the highway is 55 mph.
He said surveys show motorists usually travel at whatever speed they think is safe rather than whatever limit is posted. The state has never publicized that fact, largely because it might've jeopardized federal funding for local highways.
UDOT estimates it will cost about $100,000 to change speed-limit signs around the state.
Forty percent of 180 speed-limit signs on Utah interstates would require complete replacement because 20 years of weathering has diminished their reflectivity. The remainder would be altered by adhesive coverings.
Sterling said 60 percent of the 616 speed-limit signs on other state roads could be changed with overlays; the rest would require total replacement.
He said changes will not be arbitrary.
Factors influencing such decisions would include accident history, roadway design and visibility, said Sterling.
President Clinton on Tuesday signed the $6 billion National Highway System bill, which ends federal speed limit and motorcycle helmet laws, but he made clear that he had serious misgivings that the new law might lead to more accidents, highway deaths and injuries.
He signed it because he believes it will strengthen the nation's transportation system, providing jobs and economic opportunities, White House spokesman Mike McCurry said.
"I am deeply disturbed by the repeal of both the national maximum speed limit law and the law encouraging states to enact motorcycle helmet use laws," Clinton said in a written statement.
But Steve Carrellas of the National Motorists Association's New Jersey office said, "Most states are prepared to deal with it (speed limits)."
All it means is "changing the numbers on the signs to reflect the reasonable behavior of the vast majority of people," Carrellas said in a telephone interview.
The bill ends limits that began in 1974 as an energy-saving measure during the Mideast oil embargo. When highway deaths dropped 9,000 the following year, the law was proclaimed a lifesaver.
States later were permitted to set a 65-mph limit on rural interstates. States that failed to comply faced the threat of losing federal highway funds.