By late next week, your trip to Topeka, Colorado or Oklahoma will be a little faster.
That’s when new 75 mph speed limit signs will start appearing on parts of six Kansas highways, including three touching the outskirts of the Kansas City area.
In advance of the new speed limit going into effect July 1, the state on Tuesday identified more than 800 miles of highway where the new speeds will be in place. They are:
_ The Kansas Turnpike from Kansas 7 in Wyandotte County to the Oklahoma line.
_ Interstate 35 from a spot just east of the Sunflower/Edgerton interchange in southwest Johnson County to U.S. 50 east of Emporia.
_ U.S. 69 from 199th Street in southern Johnson County to north of U.S. 54 near Fort Scott in Bourbon County.
_ Interstate 70 from just west of Topeka in Shawnee County to the Colorado state line.
_ Interstate 135 from I-70 near Salina to a spot north of the 85th Street interchange in Harvey County.
_ U.S. 81 from I-70 near Salina north to Kansas 106.
The changes make sense to some drivers like Sheri Shippee of Shawnee. Shippee drives a lot of those highways, either for work or with family.
“You’re really on a stretch of road where you’re not in a big city and there’s lots of congestion,” she said. “It’s safer than it would be if they did it in a congested area.”
Kansas is the 14th state to have a speed limit on the books of 75 mph or more. Two states — Wyoming and Texas — already allow 80 mph on some roads.
And Texas is receiving national notoriety for passing a law that allows 85 mph on some state highways that are engineered to handle the faster speeds. Its new speed limit was signed into law last week.
Read more of this story at KansasCity.com