It will be a bit easier to ship freight on the east coast if Virginia goes through with a proposed law to up the speed limits on interstate highways to 70 MPH. The bill, SB537, has the support of newly-elected Gov. Bob McDonnell, who put in a plug for the bill in his State of the Commonwealth speech. Currently, only rural parts of I-85 are posted at 70 MPH, but other interstates would be eligible for the higher speed if traffic official deem it safe.
Virginia has made some pro-trucker moves this month, as they moved to reopen rest areas earlier this month, giving trucks a well needed place to park. Since Virginia sees quite a bit of traffic on its Interstates, including the main east coast run of I-95 and I-81, it is a key part of the interstate transport mix. I-85 gets eastern traffic to Atlanta and the I-20 corridor, and I-81 hooks up with the major I-40 corridor.
Slower speeds are more fuel-efficient, but higher speeds are more profitable for truckers, as they can spend less time on the road. If a truck is spending two hours going through Virginia, the increase speed gives them ten miles of extra range in a day, twenty if they are doing a round trip. That can save trucking service firms twenty minutes of wages an might make the difference between reaching a customer in one day and needed the truck driver to spend the night on the road before finishing the delivery.
Since a lot of truck drivers will ignore speed limits and go 70 anyways, this might increase safety rather than reduce it, as differences in speed between vehicles is often more of a problem than speed itself.
Source:http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Dai…0/012510-01.htm
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