Ohio and New Hampshire are latest states to raise speed limit on some interstates; Illinois still in limbo

Speed limits were raised from 65 mph to 70 on several stretches of interstates in Ohio on Monday, and the next day New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan signed the state's first speed limit increase in 40 years, raising a stretch of highway from 65 to 70. Maine and Utah have also raised limits this year, and other states may do so, Governing magazine reports.

The Department of Transportation in Ohio put up 317 new signs Monday along 570 miles of highway alerting drivers to the change, Rick Armon reports for the Akron Beacon Journal. The limit on the Ohio Turnpike (green line on map) had been 70 since April 2011. (News-Herald photo, by Duncan Scott, and map)

Russ Rader, a senior vice president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and its Highway Loss Data Institute in Arlington, Va., told Armon, “It’s popular to raise speed limits. It gets people to their destinations faster but it doesn’t come without a cost. There will be more crashes and more deaths as a result of raising speed limits. Instead of raising speed limits, what states should be doing is vigorously enforcing the speed limits they have because speed is a major safety problem on the roads. If we could control speeding, we could have a significant impact on the death toll." (Read more)

Hassan said she decided to sign the New Hampshire bill because it received overwhelming bipartisan support in the legislature and was limited to certain roads, Kevin Landrigan reports for The Telegraph, located in Nashua, in the southern part of the state.

"As of Jan. 1, the speed limit will be 70 mph for about an 80-mile stretch of I-93 north of Canterbury up to the border with Vermont," Landrigan reports. "Currently, motorists can drive up to 65 mph on this stretch of road. The only part of the route not covered by the increase is about 5 miles that go through the White Mountain National Forest and Franconia Notch, where the speed limit will remain 45."

The Illinois Legislature passed a bill in May that would raise the state's interstate speed limit to 70, from 65, but Gov. Pat Quinn still hasn't decided whether to sign or veto it. He can delay action until Aug. 19, which is 60 days from the date he received the bill. For the roundup from Governing, click here. (Thanks to Ray Long of the Chicago Tribune for information.)