State lawmakers are renewing their longtime push to boost the speed limit to 65 mph for large trucks traveling on Illinois' rural interstates, an idea that former Gov. Rod Blagojevich vetoed three times.
With Blagojevich out of the picture, the proposal might stand a better chance of becoming law, said Rep. David Reis, R-Willow Hill.
New Gov. Pat Quinn hasn't taken a position on the issue, spokeswoman Libby White said Wednesday.
Reis is sponsoring a bill in the Illinois House to raise the maximum speed for semi-trailer trucks from 55 mph to 65 mph in non-urban areas. If signed into law, the bill wouldn't apply to Cook County or the five surrounding "collar" counties, and it wouldn't apply on interstates with lower speed restrictions, such as I-74 through Peoria.
Sen. John Sullivan, D-Rushville, has introduced a similar plan in the Illinois Senate. Both speed-limit bills advanced in legislative committees this week. To become law, they would have to pass in the House and Senate and be signed by the governor. The bills are House Bill 3956 and Senate Bill 1467.
Supporters of the higher speed limit say it would improve safety on highways where the speed limit is 65 mph for autos but 55 mph for large trucks.
But opponents say if semis are allowed to go faster, then traffic accidents would be more frequent and more severe because larger, heavier semis cannot stop as quickly as smaller vehicles.
"Most drivers already go 65, and we give them a lot of leeway," said Illinois State Police Sgt. Tony Halsey. "If you raise the speed limit to 65, they'll go 75. That means it will take even longer for them to stop if they need to, which is already hard enough for an 80,000-pound truck to do."
Central Illinois lawmakers contacted Wednesday mostly said they support proposals to raise the speed limit for trucks on certain roadways.
"It makes common sense," said Rep. David Leitch, R-Peoria. "I find it ludicrous this hasn't been enacted a long time ago."
A uniform speed limit will result in fewer accidents because motorists won't weave in and out of traffic as much, said Sen. Dale Risinger, a Peoria Republican and former district engineer for the Illinois Department of Transportation.
Traffic also is less likely to back up if autos and trucks are moving at the same speed, said Rep. Raymond Poe, R-Springfield.
Rep. Jil Tracy, R-Mount Sterling, said she frequently finds that traffic doesn't flow smoothly on downstate roads because of the speed limit difference.
"In the evenings, if you're driving these rural downstate four-lanes, there's virtually no one on those roads except semis," she said.
Besides improving traffic safety, a uniform speed limit for semis and autos would benefit the trucking industry, said Don Schaefer, executive vice president of the Mid-West Truckers Association.
With the 55-mph speed limit, truckers cannot legally complete a round trip between St. Louis and Chicago in a single workday, but they could do it with a 65-mph limit, Schaefer said.
Two Morton-based truck companies have contrasting views on the proposed legislation.
"I'm happy with where the speed limit is right now," said George Svob, vice president of operations at Star Transport Inc. "I'm against raising it to 65 mostly because of fuel economy and safety concerns. If truckers need to stop suddenly, that's a lot easier to do at 55."
But Dennis Brasch, safety director at G&D Integrated, said the measure would "level the playing field."
"If they made a law that said everybody has to drive 55, I would be an advocate for that," he added. "But they won't make cars go that slow, so this is how you get everyone to drive the same speed."
