Updated: 5:45 p.m.

Despite hearing some concerns over safety, the Ohio Turnpike Commission on Monday raised the speed limit to 70 mph for all cars and trucks using the 241-mile roadway.

The speed limit has been creeping back up since 1973, when it was reduced to 55 mph because of the energy crisis. The current limit of 65 mph will remain in force until April 1, 2011.

Turnpike Commission Chairman Joseph Balog said Monday that the increase will boost revenues for the turnpike by drawing vehicles onto the turnpike from parallel routes.

Balog and three other commission members voted for the measure. But Bonnie Teeuwen, representing the Ohio Department of Transportation, voted and spoke against the increase.

Teeuwen said safety was her primary concern, and also asked that a letter from the Ohio Trucking Association be read into the meeting record Monday.

The association cited safety concerns, but also said many of the trucks on the turnpike operate most efficiently at or below 65 mph.

wikipedia-US_speed_limits.jpg

Wikipedia has a map and chart of state speed limits across the United States.

If the commission is serious about drawing more commercial traffic off parallel routes, it should consider lowering toll rates, the association letter said.

Balog said the turnpike was designed to accommodate speeds of 70 mph. On Monday, he also repeated earlier statements that cars today are safer and better designed than they were 20 years ago, and enjoy far more effective braking systems.

Two vehicles approaching each other on an undivided highway, each at 55 mph, are at greater risk than cars and trucks going the same direction at the higher speed limit, he said.

The Ohio Motorists Association and Ohio Highway Patrol fought without success last year when the state increased the maximum speed limit to 65 mph for trucks on highways throughout Ohio.

Brian Newbacher, spokesman for the motorists association, said last week that his group had reservations about the 70 mph limit. He noted that the faster trucks go, the longer it takes them to stop, and that passenger cars that collide with trucks often get the worst of it.

The Turnpike Commission raised the truck speed limit to 65 mph in 2004, and late in 2005, the patrol reported a 24-percent increase in all crashes, while truck crashes increased by 40 percent.

Gary Suhadolnik, the turnpike's executive director in 2006, said the earlier increase had no effect on accident rates.

He said then that trucks returned to the turnpike because of the speed-limit increase, and not because of an accompanying decrease in truck tolls.

A 70 mph speed limit is not unusual on interstate highways, especially rural interstates.

Thirty-three states have raised speed limits to 70 mph, or higher, on some part of their road systems, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

