Ohio raising speed limit

70 mph is new rate July 1 on some interstates

5/22/2013

Beginning this summer, motorists in certain parts of the state will be allowed to drive 70 mph on interstate highways, the Ohio Department of Transportation has announced.

ODOT unveiled a map Tuesday identifying the locations where motorists, starting July 1, will be able to drive 70 mph. The new limit follows legislation that was recently passed permitting speeds to increase from 65 to 70 mph on certain parts of interstate highways.

The department also plans to make 317 new signs that will be posted to alert motorists of the change, at a cost of about $8,200.

“The new law increases the speed on 570 miles out of 1,332 miles of interstate highways in Ohio,” ODOT states in a news release. The speed limit change will not include sections of major interstates that run through major urban areas and a few smaller cities.

On I-75, the speed increases start just outside of the city of Toledo going south until just north of Dayton, but excluding Findlay and Lima.

Other speed change locations are:

● I-70, from the Indiana border in the west to just outside of Wheeling, W. Va. in the east, excluding Dayton, Columbus, and Zanesville.

● I-71 from the Jeremiah Morrow Bridge in southwest Ohio to just south of the Cuyahoga/Medina County line in the north, excluding Columbus.

● I-76, from just outside Akron going east to just west of Youngstown.

● I-77, from just outside Canton south to the West Virginia border.

● I-90, from just outside of Cleveland to the Pennsylvania border.