Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Secretary Mike Hancock is expected to raise the speed limit on the highway to 65 mph this week. The speed limit is currently 55 mph on the road. Both State Senator Joey Pendleton (D-Hopkinsville) and Representative Jim DeCesare (R-Bowling Green) proposed raising the limit to 60 mph during the General Assembly session ealier this year.
The Bowling Green Daily News reports Governor Steve Beshear will make the announcement of the new speed limit Tuesday at a time and place still to be determined.
For county governments along the east-west route through southern Kentucky the announcement is more than just a convenience for drivers. The Executive Director of the Logan County Economic Alliance for Development, Tom Harned, says it'll make a difference in economic development especially as it works its way to Google Maps and MapQuest.
"(People) will understand we are located on a major highway," he said, "and not on a country byway."
Harned said the current 55 mph speed limit gives people the perception that the road is of a lower quality than it really is. Transportation Cabinet spokesman Chuck Wolfe said the road was considered a good candidate for upping the speed limit because it was a four lane divided highway with a depressed median, partially controlled access and very few traffic lights.
The section where the speed limit will be increased runs from the western edge of Bowling Green west to Cadiz.