From the ungodly traffic, to the worst drivers in the country, driving in Texas is no cake walk. One of the first lessons that Texas drivers try to impress on newcomers is that the left lane is unofficially 10 mph higher than the listed limit.
If there’s anywhere in Texas to life your left lane life to the fullest it’s on the Texas State Highway 130 where the speed limit tops out at 85 mph. Running from Austin to San Antonio in Central Texas, Texas State Highway 130 opened to the public in 2012 to incentivize drivers, particularly truckers, to take the highway over I-35.
Presently, SH 130 holds the record for the highest speed limit in the country – 10-15 mph higher than the average highway in the US.
According to Uproad, US roads are designed “to reflect the speed at which over 80% of drivers would comfortably drive without posted limits.”
As a surprise to this writer, the Texas State Highway 130 has its own website. Here, officials champion the highway as an alternative to I-35. According to the website, 98 percent of I-35 drivers experience a delay of over 20 minutes during afternoon peak, there is a 30 percent chance for a driver timeout on I-35 due to unexpected delays, and drivers are 5X more likely to experience an accident on I-35 – which it calls “the most congested roadway in Texas”.
Additionally, drivers on SH 130 average save 30 minutes during afternoon peak; the average speed on I-35 is 27 mph.
The highway has also seen its fair share of accidents. According to TxDOT, there have been over 364 accidents and 16 fatalities on the road between when it opened to the end of 2017.