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From April 1987 to December 8, 1995, an amended federal law allowed speed limits up to 65 mph (105 km/h) on rural Interstate and rural roads built to Interstate highway standards. This table contains the most usual posted daytime speed limits, in miles per hour, on typical roads in each category.
Here’s a brief history about speed limits and how they’ve evolved across the country over time. Connecticut was the first state to pass a speed limit law back in 1901.This law limited the legal speed of motor vehicles to 12 mph in cities and 15 mph on country roads.
In 1995, the U.S. Congress handed speed limit laws back over to the individual states and allowed each state to decide its maximum speed to drive. Since then, 35 states increased their limits to 70 mph or higher.
Speed limit signs march inevitably towards regulation and standardization. From the honor system in the 20’s to the first speeding ticket in 1954, we show how the speed limit sign parallels the development and regulation of the US automobile industry.
The National Maximum Speed Limit (NMSL) was a provision of the federal government of the United States 1974 Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act that effectively prohibited speed limits higher than 55 miles per hour (89 km/h). The limit was increased to 65 miles per hour (105 km/h) in 1987.
On January 2, 1974, President Richard M. Nixon signs the Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act, setting a new national maximum speed limit. Prior to 1974, individual states set speed...
From April 1987 to December 8, 1995, an amended federal law allowed speed limits up to 65 mph (105 km/h) on rural Interstate and rural roads built to Interstate highway standards. This table contains the most usual posted daytime speed limits, in miles per hour, on typical roads in each category.
The National Highway System Designation Act of 1995 repealed the maximum speed limit, allowing states to set their own limits for the first time since 1974. Many states quickly moved to raise speed limits on both rural and urban interstates and limited access roads.
The setting of speed limits predates the automobile by some 200 years, when Newport, Rhode Island, prohibited the horses galloping on major thoroughfares to prevent pedestrian deaths. Similarly, Boston, Massachusetts, limited horse-drawn carriages to "foot pace" on Sundays to protect church-goers.
Setting speed limits in the United States has always been a responsibility of State and local governments. The unrestricted freedom to exercise that authority was interrupted by the Federal Government during World War II, and more recently with the National Maximum Speed Limit of 55 mph (90 km/h).