AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas will soon open a stretch of highway with the highest speed limit in the country.
The Texas Transportation Commission has approved the 85 mph speed limit for a 41-mile-long toll road near the increasingly crowded Interstate 35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio.
The road runs several miles east of the interstate between two of the state’s largest metropolitan areas. And while some drivers may be eager to put the pedal to the metal and rip through the Central Texas countryside, others are asking if it is safe.
“The research is clear that when speed limits go up, fatalities go up,” said Russ Rader, a spokesman for the nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Higher speed limits get people to their destinations faster, Rader said, “But the trade-off is more crashes and more highway deaths.”