Variable speed limits set to begin on I-270:
Starting Thursday morning, the Missouri Department of Transportation will begin a two-year experiment with variable speed limits along Interstate 270.
Motorists might have already noticed the digital speed limit signs that began popping up along the Missouri stretch of the highway in recent weeks. So far, those signs have shown that the speed limit is 60 miles per hour.
But by the morning commute, the speed limits on those signs could change to as low as 40 miles per hour depending on traffic flow.
Hey, we’ve already seen the authorities stretching existing laws to cover things that they didn’t. Why not just give the authorities to actually change the rules at their whim?
I’m sure this power will only be used for safety, and not revenue enhancement. So it will only be coincidence when these speed limits drop during nonpeak times when there happen to be a large number of municipal police cars sitting on the entrance ramps.
If traffic is snarled at 25 mph, what possible difference can it make if the speed limit is 40, 60 or 80?
Besides, they’ve had this for years on the New Jersey Turnpike, and people move at the same speed regardless.