Speed limit

by Adam Robertson Clark Fork Valley Press
| October 11, 2015 7:44 PM

MINERAL COUNTY – New speed limit signs appeared throughout Mineral County, Thursday, in response to the state legislature passing a bill to change the speed limit on Interstate 90 from 70 to 80 MPH.

Senate Bill 375 approved the increase of the I-90 speed limit as well as other Interstates throughout the state. The bill left it up to the Montana Department of Transportation to decide which sections of Interstate were changed. Speeds along the highways throughout the county have not been changed.

The legislation went into effect on Thursday, October 1.

The speed limit was only increased from just East of St. Regis to the county line. The area from St. Regis west to the state line is being kept at 65 MPH. The reason for not changing the speeds west of St. Regis is due to how many bends there are in the road and concerns about safety at such speeds in the area.

Around towns, the drop in speed was changed accordingly to match the increase. As traffic approaches towns in the county, the speed has been changed to 75 MPH.

On October 1, Colonel Tom Butler, of the highway patrol, made a video addressing some of the frequently asked questions about the speed limit increase. The video was uploaded to the highway patrol’s Facebook page. He noted the background of the bill, which he said was in response to neighboring states increasing their Interstate speed limits.

“It was very clear to the highway patrol that something was going to change with the speed limit,” he said. “We elected to compromise with a modest increase in fines and a modest increase in speed to work through this issue.”

Some criticism has also come up on the highway patrol’s Facebook page in response the increase. The critics feel 80 is too fast and will cause even more accidents than already occur on a major Interstate.

In the video, Butler noted most fatal accidents involved seatbelt use. He said other states where speed limits have increased have not recorded corresponding increases in their accident rate and he was not too concerned about the risk.