ORLANDO, Fla. – Highway speedsters may rejoice if a bill passes the Florida Legislature.
SB 462 is a package of changes to transportation law. Before the bill’s first committee hearing Thursday morning, the sponsor added a new provision: raising the speed limit from 70 mph on a major highway or expressway to 75 mph.
Recommended Videos
The amended bill would only raise the speed limit to 75 mph on limited access highways, which are ones with designated entrances and exits, like I-4 or I-95.
The proposal would also raise the speed limit from 65 mph to 70 mph on highways outside of urban areas with 5,000 or more people. The highway must have at least four lanes and be divided by a median strip.
[RELATED: How to find, contact your Florida state senators or representatives]
Finally, the bill also allows the Florida Department of Transportation to set maximum speed limits for all other roadways to 65 mph from 60 mph.
Among the other changes SB 462 makes:
- It allows sales tax revenue from public electric vehicle charging stations to go to the State Transportation Trust Fund
- Allows FDOT to use eminent domain to preserve an area for future proposed improvements
- Requires certain project development and environmental studies to be completed within 18 months
- And makes a number of changes to the bidding process for construction projects
The bill passed the Senate Transportation Committee and now goes to the Regulated Industries Committee.
SB 462 does not have an identical companion bill in the Florida House, so the speed limit changes would have to be added to any final bill the two chambers compromise on for it to pass.