Truck Speed Limits Unchanged

Related Stories Montana speed limit debate reaches trucks. (Note: To return to this story, click the "Back" button on your browser.)

Montana’s motorists will be bound by a numerical speed limit, but the laws for truckers will be held in place by their own request.

In passing the bill that gives Montana motorists their first speed limit since 1995, legislators removed provisions that would have raised truck speed limits by ten miles per hour. Truck limits will stay at their current levels of 65 mph at all times on interstate highways and 60 mph daytime and 50 mph nighttime on two-lane roads.

The state’s trucking industry fought to keep the levels the same based on safety concerns.

"Initial efforts were trying to make truck speeds 70 daytime, 65 nighttime everywhere, and at one point the bill raised them to 75 on the interstate," said Brian Cavey, executive vice president of the Montana Motor Carriers Association. "The association felt that was too high for safety reasons and had gone on record supporting the current speed limits under law."

For the full story, see the March 1 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.