Drivers in rural areas of Texas now enjoy higher speed limits on portions of Interstate 10 and Interstate 20.

New rules allowing for a maximum speed limit of 80 mph in rural, less populated areas were approved last Thursday by the Texas Transportation Commission during its monthly meeting.
The rules implement the 79th Legislature’s House Bill 2257, which allows 5-mph speed limit increases on interstate highways in counties with populations of less than 15 persons per square mile. New speed limit signs were unveiled in time for Memorial Day weekend travel.
Factors evaluated during speed limit engineering studies included prevailing speeds – logged between 77-and-79 miles per hour for 85 percent of drivers – roadway width, crash history, horizontal or vertical curves, and shoulder conditions.
The 80-mph speed limit does not apply to commercial trucks, truck tractors, trailers and semitrailers. The truck speed limit will remain at 70 miles per hour. But the new limit does apply to pickup trucks and pickup trucks pulling a trailer. The nighttime speed limit remains 65 mph.