Oregon may raise speed limit to 70 mph

SALEM, Ore. – Any summertime driver is likely to notice that many motorists are cruising beyond the legal speed limit.

This fall, Oregonians might get the green light to legally drive faster on the state’s freeways. The 2003 Legislature authorized the state Transportation Commission to raise freeway speed limits from 65 mph to 70 mph for cars and from 55 mph to 65 mph for trucks.

The Transportation Department is to issue recommendations on Friday for any speed limit changes on the more than 500 miles of Oregon freeways.

The commission plans to make a final decision Sept. 30, following five public hearings around the state.

Some drivers are annoyed that the process seems slow.

“We get calls from people saying since the limit was increased, why haven’t the signs been changed?” Pat Cooney, the department communications director, said Monday.

The Legislature didn’t require a boost in the speed limit. It said the commission can raise the threshold if it decides it’s reasonable and safe based on engineering and traffic studies.

The panel could reduce freeway speed limits as well.

The agency has divided the freeway system into 35 segments for study, and will probably make a speed-limit recommendation for each one.

Factors being looked at include: accident frequency, the mix of traffic, the availability of trauma care and police, and accident rates in other states that have raised speed limits.

The sponsor of the bill to increase the speed limit, Rep. Randy Miller, R-West Linn, says the agency needs pick up the pace. He said several factors that have been included in the studies, such as the distance from a trauma center, are unnecessary.

“Remote means just that, a long ways from anything,” he said Monday. “Those areas probably are where the speed limit should be higher.”

The Oregon Trucking Associations supported the legislation as long as the truck speed limit would be just 5 mph less than that for cars, said Bob Russell, president of the organization.

Studies have shown the greater the difference between car and truck speed limits, the more car-truck accidents are likely, he said. The difference between limits now is 10 mph.

Truckers can reap advantages by delivering goods faster, but some are concerned about a decrease in safety.

“As a trucking company owner, we want to get loads delivered on time and get many loads under our belt,” said Mike Card, owner of Combined Transport of Central Point.

“But there’s nothing worse out there than having an accident. Speed helps us to get where we go, but a negative safety record is more important.”