Posted 7-17-08

Barrasso: 55 MPH Speed Limit--Not On My Watch

WASHINGTON (Office of Senator Barrasso) -- U.S. Senator John Barrasso, R-Wyo., is putting the brakes on a proposal to reinstate a 55 mile per hour national speed limit.

“This proposal is another one of Washington’s one-size-fits-all approaches that will not work in Wyoming,” Barrasso said. “Government mandates and heavy handed restrictions on personal freedoms haven’t worked in the past – and they won’t work now.”

Some in Congress are proposing to reinstate a national speed limit as a way to conserve energy. The energy crisis of 1970’s prompted Congress to pass the Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act which required a national 55 mph speed limit. States that didn’t comply lost federal highway funding. 

Barrasso said the speed requirement might work in urban areas, but it would prove to be a burden on the people of Wyoming.

“In Wyoming we depend on long roads and interstates that connect our rural state. It is not uncommon for us to commute 100 miles round trip to work, to school, or to shop for groceries.”

Currently, the 330 mile drive from Sheridan to Cheyenne takes a motorist a little over four hours. A federally mandated speed limit would add an extra two hours to that trip.

“The 55 mph mandate did not work in 1974, and I have yet to come across any evidence it will work in 2008,” Barrasso said.