Speed limits may change for Michigan's rural highways: the legislature is looking at raising them to 80 miles an hour.
State Rep. Brad Jacobsen (R-Oxford) introduced the bill earlier this month to make 80 mph the new speed limit on all highways designated "rural in nature" by the state police and the transportation department.
But that's still a long ways off - first, the bill has to get approval from the house transportation committee.
And the Michigan State Police will get to weigh in on the idea.
Here’s the portion of the bill that talks about the speed limit change:
“THE SPEED LIMIT ON ALL RURAL LIMITED ACCESS FREEWAYS UPON WHICH A SPEED LIMIT IS NOT OTHERWISE FIXED UNDER THIS ACT IS 80 MILES PER HOUR, WHICH SHALL BE KNOWN AS THE "RURAL FREEWAY GENERAL SPEED LIMIT".
THE MINIMUM SPEED LIMIT ON ALL RURAL LIMITED ACCESS FREEWAYS UPON WHICH A MINIMUM SPEED LIMIT IS NOT OTHERWISE FIXED UNDER THIS ACT IS 55 MILES PER HOUR.
NO LATER THAN 1 YEAR AFTER THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE AMENDATORY ACT THAT ADDED THIS SUBSECTION, THE STATE TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT AND THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE POLICE SHALL DESIGNATE ALL RURAL LIMITED ACCESS FREEWAYS WITHIN THIS STATE.
AS USED IN THIS SUBSECTION, "RURAL LIMITED ACCESS FREEWAY" MEANS A FREEWAY SEGMENT THAT HAS BEEN DESIGNATED BY THE STATE TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT AND THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE POLICE TO BE RURAL IN NATURE.”
