COLUMBUS, Ohio – The two-year, $7 billion transportation budget approved unanimously by the Ohio Senate Wednesday would allow any vehicle, including trucks, to drive 75 mph on rural Ohio freeways and the Ohio Turnpike.
READ MORE: In the Columbus Dispatch
But whether that five-mile-an-hour increase remains in the bill likely will be determined by next week, after the House and Senate haggle over differences in the bill. The House speaker has questioned whether it’s too soon to raise the speed limit again.
Ohio increased the speed limit on rural highways to 70 mph in 2013, and now the Senate wants to bump it to 75 mph on rural freeways and the Ohio Turnpike. A provision added to the transportation budget earlier this week would have left the speed limit at 70 mph for trucks weighing more than 8,000 pounds, but that was altered yesterday.
Rep. Gayle Manning, R-North Ridgeville, chairwoman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said the Ohio Trucking Association convinced them to make it 75 mph for all vehicles, arguing it’s safer if everyone has the same speed limit.
“Accidents have gone down in the past year and a half” since the speed limit was last raised, Manning said, noting that the Department of Transportation and turnpike officials still have discretion to set a lower speed limit where needed.
But a State Highway Patrol spokesman said earlier this week that the 70 mph speed limit hasn’t been in place long enough to know if accidents are really going down or not. The turnpike’s 2013 annual report — the latest available — showed 2,380 total accidents for the year, a decrease from 2,598 in 2012, but still higher than 2009.
The bill also specifies that drivers on highways with at least three lanes may drive in the left-hand lane only if driving in the right-hand lane is “impracticable.”
Other provisions in the bill include:
Decreasing the financial burden on counties and municipalities for the improvement of roads, bridges, culverts and various water systems.
$10 million for the Ohio Bridge Partnership Program which is a construction initiative designed to provide resources for county bridge projects and requiring the ODOT to conduct a pilot project studying bridge lifespan feasibility.
Requiring applicants over the age of 18, seeking initial driver’s licenses, to complete abbreviated driving courses if they fail the preliminary driver examination. It also shifts the focus from age to experience regarding probationary license restrictions regarding the number of passengers allowed in a vehicle with the driver or nighttime restrictions and gives judicial discretion for moving violations by these drivers.