Brianne Pfannenstiel

bpfannenst@dmreg.com

A bill in the Iowa House would allow the Department of Transportation to raise the speed limit on interstate highways to 75 miles an hour.

A three-person subcommittee unanimously passed the bill, House File 2248, onto a full committee. A separate House bill would raise the speed limit on rural two-lane highways.

Steve Gent, director of the Office of Traffic and Safety with the DOT, cautioned that an increase in the speed limit could result in more fatal crashes. He referenced a study conducted after the state raised its speed limit from 65 miles per hour to 70 miles per hour in 2005.

Gent said the number of drivers stayed relatively consistent during the four years prior to the change and during the four years after the change. However, fatalities increased on average from 19.5 to 25.3 annually between 2005 and 2009 — an increase that the study says is similar to what might be expected from random variation in the data.

Lawmakers on the subcommittee said they feel the issue is worth discussing with the full Transportation Committee. Chairman Josh Byrnes, R-Osage, said the committee would likely debate the bill Wednesday.