GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

1987 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 164

HOUSE BILL 431

 

AN ACT TO PERMIT THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO SET THE SPEED LIMIT ON INTERSTATE HIGHWAYS AT A MAXIMUM OF SIXTY-FIVE MILES PER HOUR.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1. G.S. 20-141(b) reads as rewritten:

"(b)      Except as otherwise provided in this Chapter, it shall be unlawful to operate a vehicle in excess of the following speeds:

(1)       Thirty-five miles per hour inside municipal corporate limits for all vehicles.

(2)       Fifty-five miles per hour outside municipal corporate limits for all vehicles, except on rural Interstate Highways where the speed limit has been raised pursuant to G.S. 20-141(d)(2), and except for school buses and school activity buses."

Sec. 2.  G.S. 20-141(d)(2) reads as rewritten:

"(2)      Whenever the Department of Transportation determines on the basis of an engineering and traffic investigation that a higher maximum speed than those set forth in subsection (b) is reasonable and safe under the conditions found to exist upon any part of a highway designated as part of the Interstate Highway System or other controlled-access highway (either inside or outside the corporate limits of a municipality) the Department of Transportation shall determine and declare a reasonable and safe speed limit. A speed limit set pursuant to this subsection may not exceed 70 miles per hour.   The Department of Transportation shall set the speed limit not to exceed that allowed by applicable Federal law on any part of the Interstate Highway System that they deem to be safe.

Speed limits set pursuant to this subsection are not effective until appropriate signs giving notice thereof are erected upon the parts of the highway affected."

Sec. 3.  G.S. 20-141(k) reads as rewritten:

"(k)      Notwithstanding any other provision contained in G.S. 20-141 or any other statute or law of this State, the The maximum speed limit on any public highway within the State of North Carolina shall not exceed 55 miles per hour except for those portions of the Interstate Highway System where the Department of Transportation sets a higher speed limit pursuant to subdivision (d)(2) of this section.

Sec. 4.  This act is effective upon ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 8th day of May, 1987.