tennessee changed the speed limit for trucks to 55 in the 2000s.
when did tennessee change the speed limit for trucks to 55?
in the 2000s
in the 2000s, all of the major cities in tennessee except for nashville and clarksville petitioned tdot to enact environmental speed limits in their respective counties after failing to meet epa air quality standards, reducing speed limits from 70 mph to 65 mph and 55 mph for trucks. knox county (knoxville) also petitioned the state to enact these speed limits in all of the neighboring counties of the knoxville metropolitan area, as well as jefferson county. these moves were controversial, as people believed the actual purpose was to increase revenue from speeding tickets, and the tennessee highway patrol (thp) reportedly started enforcing these as 70 mph zones in the knoxville area after multiple truckers successfully won court cases and had their tickets dismissed. in 2018, these speed limits west of the knoxville area were increased back to 70. on february 19, 2019, 70 mph speed limit signs were installed on i-40 and i-81 east of knox county starting at exit 398. in nashville, speed limits for freeways are posted at 55 mph at the center of the city, and 65 and 70 mph beyond, with no separate restrictions for trucks. i-26 and i-81 in kingsport, bristol, and johnson city continue with the staggered limits.
speed limits in the united states by jurisdiction
normally, the end of a lowered speed limit is marked with a sign reading "state speed limit 55", indicating that the statewide speed limit applies. in areas where a curve or other road condition makes the state speed limit inadvisable, a sign reading "end xx m.p.h. limit" may be used, with xx replaced with the speed limit value. a "state speed limit 55" sign should be installed after the curve. this sign is sometimes misused in locations where the speed limit changes to a speed other than 55 mph. this is mainly applied on both undivided and divided rural non-freeway routes. though rarely seen, some divided roadways are set as low as 45 mph but mainly stay at the state speed limit of 55 mph; in one exceptional case, that of the scajaquada expressway, the speed limit was lowered to 30 mph in 2016 after a fatality.
speed limits in the united states by jurisdiction