AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Texas will soon open a stretch of highway with the highest speed limit in the country.
The Texas Transportation Commission has approved the 85 mph speed limit for a 41-mile-long toll road near the increasingly crowded Interstate 35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio.
While some drivers are eager to put the pedal to the metal, others are asking if it is safe.
An American Journal of Public Health report found that more than 12,500 traffic fatalities in the U.S. from 1995 to 2005 were attributable to increases in speed limits.
Driver Alan Guckian of Austin counters that "sometimes it's fun to just open it up."
Rural West Texas already has 80 mph speed limits on some highways, although most US roads top out at 75 mph.
