The House and Senate have both adopted the Conference Committee version of Senate Bill 0217 raising speed limits on Indiana highways. The Senate passed the bill 29 to 18 and the House passed it 70 to 23.

The changes are:

Senate Bill 0217 Increases the speed limit from 65 to 70 on Interstate Highways. But that’s not all. It goes on to take a fairly elegant bit of legislation and turn it into a mishmash of speed limits.

Current law is: 1) Default of 55 mph; 2) 30 mph in an urban district; 3) 65 mph on an Interstate outside of a metropolitan area; 4) 60 mph for heavy trucks; and 5) 15 mph in an alley.

Proposed law is 1) Default of 55 mph; 2) 30 mph in an urban district; 3) 70 mph on an Interstate outside of an urban area; 4) 65 mph for heavy trucks; 5) 15 mph in an alley; 6) 65 mph for US 20 between C.R. 17 in Elkhart County and US 31 in St. Joseph County; 7) 65 mph for a road classified as an INDOT freeway; 8) 70 mph for light vehicles and buses on a highway that is the responsibility of the Indiana transportation finance authority; 9) 65 mph for heavy vehicles on a highway that is the responsibility of the Indiana transportation finance authority; and 10) 60 mph for a highway that is a) not an interstate, b) has 4 or more lanes, c) is divided by a barrier, and d) is outside a metropolitan area.

Introduced Version, Senate Bill 0217 It never passes, but Sen. Server has introduced a bill to raise the speed limit on Interstates from 65 to 70 mph.

(Maybe they could play up the economic development angle. When given an option, I chose a route that was a few miles longer because it was primarily through states with 70 mph speed limits.)