Court Upholds U.S. Right to Impose 55-M.P.H. Limit

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld the right of the federal government to impose a 55-m.p.h. speed limit on highways by threatening to withhold highway construction money from states.

In its opinion on the first challenge to the national speed limit, the court rejected claims by the state of Nevada that the government is using unfair coercion to get states to comply.

Because the opinion of the trial court was ordered published, the decision is binding on all the states in the Western appellate district--many of which have expressed a desire to raise the speed limit on certain roads because of long distances and a lack of mass transit.

Federal law allows states to set speed limits on some stretches of rural highways and many in the West have already done so.

For instance, about 1,100 miles of interstate highways in California have a 65-m.p.h. speed limit. Washington state set 65-m.p.h. limits on some rural roads and parts of heavily traveled Interstate 5, the state’s main north-south artery. In Arizona, all interstate highways outside cities and towns have a 65- m.p.h. maximum speed.

But the case before the appellate court dealt with the federal government’s right to impose any limits.

The 9th Circuit covers Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Guam and the Mariana Islands.

At the height of the energy crisis in 1973, Congress required states to impose a maximum speed limit of 55 m.p.h. on all roads, including those outside the interstate highway system. With the crisis past, Nevada lawmakers in 1985 raised the limit on some rural highways to 70 m.p.h., saying the lower speed imposed hardships on residents in the large, rural state.

The Department of Transportation threatened to cut off Nevada’s highway funding if it didn’t drop the speed limit. The state complied but sued, arguing, among other things, the agency’s order violated constitutional limits on the federal government’s power to force states to comply with national policies.