FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Speed limits in the United States are set by each state or territory. States have also allowed counties and municipalities to enact typically lower limits. Highway speed limits can range from an urban low of 25 mph (40 km/h) to a rural high of 85 mph (137 km/h). Speed limits are typically posted in increments of five miles per hour (8 km/h). Some states have lower limits for trucks, some also have night and/or minimum speed limits.
The highest speed limits are generally 70 mph (113 km/h) on the West Coast and the inland eastern states, 75–80 mph (121–129 km/h) in inland western states, along with Arkansas, Louisiana, Maine, and Michigan; and 65–70 mph (105–113 km/h) on the Eastern Seaboard. Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, and Vermont have a maximum limit of 65 mph (105 km/h), and Hawaii has a maximum limit of 60 mph (97 km/h). The District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands have a maximum speed limit of 55 mph (89 km/h). Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands have speed limits of 45 mph (72 km/h). American Samoa has a maximum speed limit of 30 mph (48 km/h). Two territories in the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands have their own speed limits: 40 mph (64 km/h) in Wake Island, and 15 mph (24 km/h) in Midway Atoll. Unusual for any state east of the Mississippi River, much of Interstate 95 (I-95) in Maine north of Bangor allows up to 75 mph (121 km/h), and the same is true for up to 600 mi (966 km) of freeways in Michigan. Portions of the Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming road networks have 80 mph (129 km/h) posted limits. The highest posted speed limit in the country is 85 mph (137 km/h) and can be found only on Texas State Highway 130, a toll road that bypasses the Austin metropolitan area for long-distance traffic.
A standard sign indicating a speed limit of 80 mph (129 km/h), a night-time speed limit of 65 mph (105 km/h), and a truck speed limit of 55 mph (89 km/h)
During World War II, the U.S. Office of Defense Transportation established a national 35 mph “Victory Speed Limit” (also known as “War Speed”) to conserve gasoline and rubber for the American war effort, from May 1942 to August 1945, when the war ended. For 13 years (January 1974–April 1987), federal law withheld Federal highway trust funds to states that had speed limits above 55 mph (89 km/h). From April 1987 to December 8, 1995, an amended federal law allowed speed limits up to 65 mph (105 km/h) on rural Interstate and rural roads built to Interstate highway standards.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Why is it called hamburger when it is made from beef?
Hamburger was named for the city of Hamburg, Germany, where it was common for residents to pound their beef in the 19th century. By 1912, people in the United States were shaping this pulverized beef into patties.
Advice of the Day
When things go wrong, don’t go with them.
Home Hint of the Day
To rid a car of stale smoke odor, leave shallow containers of ground coffee in the car. Ventilate the car thoroughly by opening all the windows, and let the wind blow through for several hours.
Word of the Day
Crumpet
A kind of large, thin muffin or cake, light and spongy, and cooked on a griddle or spider.
Puzzle of the Day
What is that which is so easily broken that the mere mention of it breaks it?
Silence
Born
- William Blake (poet) – 1757
- Friedrich Engels (philosopher) – 1820
- Earl Grey (Canadian Governor General 1904 – 1911) – 1851
- James Connolly (first champion of modern Olympics) – 1865
- Henry Bacon (architect) – 1866
- Alberto Moravia (writer) – 1907
- Berry Gordy, Jr. (founder of Motown Records) – 1929
- Gary Hart (politician) – 1936
- Paul Warfield (football player) – 1942
- Randy Newman (singer & songwriter) – 1943
- Alexander Godunov (composer, ballet dancer, & actor) – 1949
- Paul Shaffer (musician & composer) – 1949
- Dave Righetti (baseball player) – 1958
- Judd Nelson (actor) – 1959
- Jon Stewart (actor) – 1962
- Mary Elizabeth Winstead (actress) – 1984
- Scarlett N. Pomers (actress) – 1988
Died
- Washington Irving (writer) – 1859
- James Naismith (invented game of basketball) – 1939
- Dwight Davis (tennis player) – 1945
- Garry Moore (comedian) – 1993
- Leslie Nielsen (actor) – 2010
- Dale Armstrong (drag racer) – 2014
Events
- Navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached the Pacific, emerging from what is now known as the Strait of Magellan– 1520
- Banff Hot Springs Reserve (later renamed Banff National Park) established– 1885
- North Pacific Canning Company formed, British Columbia– 1888
- First recorded automobile race in America. Six cars left Chicago’s Jackson Park for a 54 mile race to Evanston, Illinois, and back through the snow– 1895
- Grand Ole Opry made its radio debut– 1925
- In Boston, Massachusetts, a fire in the Cocoanut Grove night club killed 492 people– 1942
- John Lennon made a concert appearance at NYC’s Madison Square Garden– 1974
- U.S. bill signed allowing states to set their own speed limits– 1995
Weather
- Thomas Jefferson recorded in his journal: “It is so cold that the freezing of the ink on the point of my pen renders it difficult to write.”– 1796
- A storm on Lake Superior damaged 29 ships– 1905
- A Lake Superior storm caused waves 20 to 40 feet high– 1960
COURTESY www.almanac.com
