55,70, 95, and 88

The non-news of the day award goes to this revelation (from that master of non-news, The Wall Street Journal) that the 55 mph highway speed limit is a dead item. On 3-2-1: D'uh!

I could see this coming in the late 90s, when I traded up from a dogged but overmatched Escort wagon to a used Nissan. Whilst some of my friends are prone to sneer at Nissan products, I point out that this car, at the advanced age of 150,000 miles, crossed the country twice. But I digress.
Early on, I noticed that this ride got its best highway mileage between 65 and 75. I was also commuting from the North Shore to Portsmouth, NH back then. You do not drive 55 over the bulk of I-95 along that route, unless you want to be rear-ended within 30 seconds. You wait to be overtaken by a car or two, then set cruise control at something slower than they were going.

The next spring we took the first of many trips to E's chosen college in upstate NY. Our direct route took us along Interstate 88 for 100 or so miles. What, you've never heard of I- 88?
Never mind, most people haven't. Hardly anyone drives it unless they have some pressing business along it. I couldn't ever get on this all-but-deserted ribbon of four-lane concrete without the word "pork" crossing my mind. Except at the college input and output seasons, the highway was as deserted as any interstate I've ever seen. Since then I've driven I-40 from Oklahoma to California and I-5 on a weekday from the Grapevine to the Bay area: I-88 is right up there in the lack of company department.

My I-95 travel routine proved to be perfect for I-88, except that one had to wait longer for the interference to blow past. After exiting the Thruway south, one happily cruised at the posted 65 until a local or two smoked by at 85 plus. Then it was set cruise control for 70-something and keep an eye out for brake lights or blue lights in the distance. It paid to keep an eye on the rearview, of course. But over most of 88's course, one could see overtaking vehicles when they were still a couple of miles out of radar range. I still got optimal highway mileage.

For a good many American drivers, these two experiences form the reality. First, the observed experience is that 55 does not represent the best mileage performance on a nearly empty highway at a uniform cruising speed; not any more. Second, many people are going to be on underused, if not empty, highways, a good part of the time.

That's something to consider when chasing the link above and looking at the average highway speeds. Massachusetts' averages aren't low because we are Goody Two-Shoes drivers. They reflect realities such as Friday night on the Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90) westbound, when it's often bumper-to-bumper from Logan Airport to the I-84 exit, some 60 miles. Likewise I'm sure that California averages are pulled down by normal weekday travel around greater LA, where any speed that is in forward counts as a major gain. I love that Montana and Wyoming have no data recorded. I expect that's because the technology to measure Warp Factor 5 hasn't been invented yet. Readers here who go back far enough may recall that Arizona would be much the same, if I-40 didn't cross Reservation land where speed limits are indeed enforced.

So, yep. Double-nickel is double dead, except where going that fast is still a fantasy.