UPDATED: NTTA board to consider speed limit adjustments for various Dallas-area tollways on August 19

by PegNews wire

Faster mostly, not slower.

UPDATE: The vote went through and the new speed limits go into effect as soon as new signs are installed. Signage installation begins on August 20 and continues through September 1.

The North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) System Projects and Operations Committee advanced a resolution to be considered by the board of directors that would adjust speed limits on the Dallas North Tollway (DNT) and President George Bush Turnpike (PGBT). If approved, the speed limits would go into effect as soon as new signs are installed. Signage installation would begin the day after board action was taken and continue through Sept. 1.

The recommended speed limits are based on a speed study that was initiated in 2008, but they could not be implemented until environmental speed limit designations were removed on certain portions of the roadway.

“The speed study results indicate that recommended speed limits are more consistent with the actual flow of traffic,” said Rick Herrington, NTTA deputy executive director.

Recommended adjustments to speed limits on the DNT and PGBT are as follows:

· DNT between Ivan Street and Oak Lawn Avenue – speed limit would decrease from 55 to 50 mph

· DNT between Oak Lawn Avenue and just South of Trinity Mills Road (Dallas/Collin county line) – speed limit would increase from 55 to 65 mph

· DNT between just south of Trinity Mills Road in Dallas and County Road 26 in Frisco – speed limit would increase from 60 or 65 to 70 mph

· DNT between County Road 26 in Frisco and U.S. 380 – speed limits would remain 55 mph

· PGBT between Beltline Road in Irving and west of SH 78 in Garland – speed limit would increase from 60 to 70 mph.

The NTTA initiated a speed study in 2008 to determine appropriate speed limits in conjunction with the implementation of all-electronic toll collection (all-ETC) at the main lane plazas on the DNT and PGBT. The speed study identified the speed at or below which 85 percent of the vehicles travel during free flow conditions on the roadways, also known as the "85th percentile speed". The NTTA also evaluated characteristics unique to each roadway such as vertical and horizontal curvature, crash records, and environmental impacts along the corridors.

Environmental Speed Limit designations on the DNT and PGBT were removed by the North Central Texas Council of Government with the approval of the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality and Environmental Protection Agency because many of the NTTA’s recent initiatives, such as the transition to all-ETC, offset any increase of emissions due to speed limit adjustments.

If approved, the NTTA will work with member cities and counties on the implementation of transitional speed zones at the ends of the DNT and PGBT.

Source: NTTA

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