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Florida to Study I-75 Speed Limit

Posted on: Tuesday, 24 January 2006, 09:00 CST

By Richard Dymond, The Bradenton Herald, Fla.

Jan. 24--SARASOTA -- Increasing congestion and accidents on Interstate 75 in Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties have prompted the state to consider reducing the speed limit. Local transportation leaders were told Monday the state plans to conduct a study to see if the 70-mph speed limit needs to be lowered. "We will study I-75 from Manatee to Charlotte to see just what is the mood of the drivers," Stanley M. Cann, district secretary of the Florida Department of Transportation, told members of the Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization on Monday. The speed study will be conducted in five locations on I-75 -- two in Sarasota, two in Manatee and one in Charlotte -- said Cindy Clemmons-Adente, an FDOT spokeswoman. The study will be completed in 60 to 90 days, she said. A recently released study prepared by Sarasota County staff for commissioners shows that the numbers of vehicles and crashes on I-75 from University Parkway to River Road in south Sarasota County increased significantly in 2004 and 2005. "I think things have reached a crisis," Sarasota County Commissioner David Mills told other MPO members during Monday's monthly meeting at the Sudakoff Center. "The last two years, there has been a definite increase in accidents. As local government, I know we have no authority to lower the speed limit, but we have to do something.""The speed limit along a section of roadway is set at the speed at which 85 percent of the traffic is traveling at or below," FDOT traffic operations engineer L.K. Nandam wrote in a letter to Sarasota County officials in December. "We don't want to artificially lower it," Cann said. "What we find is that there is a speed that 85 percent of the drivers are comfortable with." MPO member and Manatee County Commissioner Amy Stein said the problem on I-75 isn't speed, it's capacity. "The highway has poor capacity," Stein said. "The state needs to come up with adequate funding to improve the highway. No one is driving the speed limit because they are all grinding along, then they have to jump into the passing line and race to pass long lines of trucks." Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 708-7917 or rdymond@HeraldToday.com [mailto:rdymond@HeraldToday.com]. I-75 traffic, crashes in Sarasota County YEAR DAILY CRASHES CARS 2000 68,643 380 2001 72,471 418 2002 74,014 438 2003 78,014 378 2004 81,629 506 2005* 85,000 411 * 8 monthsStatistics compiled by Sarasota County government. Manatee County crashes on I-75 YEAR CRASHES 2000 120 2001 134 2002 136 2003 160 2004 216 2005* 164 * partial year statisticStatistics compiled by Florida Department of Transportation.Manatee's busiest stretch Just south of S.R. 70 -- an average of 95,500 vehicles a day

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Bradenton Herald, Fla.

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Source: The Bradenton Herald (Bradenton, Fla.)

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