Coming to Delaware's I-95: 65 mph speed limit

To most travelers on I-95 in Delaware, they're little white lies: 55 mph speed limit signs, zipping by too fast to read.

By summer, however, state officials plan to bump the limit to 65 mph between the Maryland line and the I-495 split south of Wilmington, a move that will put the official limit closer to – if still short of – average driver speeds.

That adjustment should make the road safer, by reducing extreme speed differences on the highway, Delaware Department of Transportation officials said Tuesday. The change also will allow police to devote more attention to aggressive and very high-speed driving.

"I don't expect a significant change in driving speeds based on this change," said Chief Traffic Engingeer Mark Luszcz.

"The main impetus of this is really the fact that 55 is unreasonably low," Luszcz said. "The 65-mph limit is much more reasonable. That's the speed drivers feel comfortable at on the road, and that's one of the factors in setting speed limits."

A report on the issue completed in January found that the majority of drivers are exceeding 65 mph already at 36 locations studied along the state's I-95 corridor. The fastest half of all drivers went faster than 71.7 mph on northbound lanes at Shipley Road, while southbound speeds averaged highest just south of the Delaware Turnpike rest area near Newark, at 72.1 mph.

Maryland's section of I-95 is already posted at 65 mph, and Pennsylvania drops the speed to 55 mph, a nod to the congestion and closely spaced ramps through Chester and north.

Luszcz said that that about 85 percent of drivers were estimated to be driving at or below 65 mph, based on a study of averages for May 2014. That 85th percentile is a widely used measure for "reasonable" and safe speed limits, according to both DelDOT and the Federal Highway Administration.

In Sherwood Forest near Newark, retired tanker truck driver Robert H. Boyle gave the idea thumbs down, saying more than 25 years of hauling gasoline, often along I-95, had left him dubious.

"It's almost like the Schuylkill Expressway out there," Boyle said. "There's just too much going on out there, too many entrance and exit ramps. Nobody's going 55 now, but I don't think they should do it."

DelDOT's report agreed on compliance, but came to a different conclusion.

"Operating speeds are closer to 70 mph for much of the limits of I-95 within Delaware," DelDOT's report said. "The low, existing speed limit is not practical nor reasonable based on the measured performance of the vehicles on the roadway and the favorable crash history."

Luszcz said the department would monitor safety and crash records in the coming year, while also assessing conditions north of U.S. 202, beyond Wilmington's more-urbanized and congested section of the highway.

Plans for production and placement of signs larger than the 55 mph version is under way, Luszcz said.

The National Motorists Association, which advocates for drivers on a range of issues, takes a position on speed limits matching the one used for Delaware.

"Speed limits should be based on sound traffic-engineering principles that consider responsible motorists' actual travel speeds," the association's policy statement says. "Typically, this should result in speed limits set at the 85th percentile speed of free-flowing traffic [the speed under which 85 percent of traffic is traveling]."

Delaware only in recent years installed systems and networks sufficient to assess average speeds across multiple locations, Luszcz said.

"The idea has been out there for several years," Luszcz said. "Nobody has really been pushing us. About a year ago, we said, 'Let's take a look at the data.' "

Contact Jeff Montgomery at (302) 463-3344 or jmontgomery@delawareonline.com.