There, amid creosote bushes, mesquite trees and the occasional cactus, is a heavy-footed driver’s dream — a road sign declaring a speed limit of 80 miles per hour that coincides with entry into bucolic Hudspeth County.
State officials approved the new speed limit in May, making it the highest legal limit in the United States. The old speed limit had been 75 m.p.h., said Carlos Lopez, director of traffic operations for the Texas Department of Transportation.
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The 80 m.p.h. zone extends east on Interstate 10 from the El Paso County line, through Hudspeth County and beyond.
In all, it includes 521 miles of highway in parts of 10 counties, Mr. Lopez said, splitting off at the junction with Interstate 20 east of Kent and continuing toward Monahans and on Interstate 20 into Kerr County.
The limit is an ideal fit for Texas, a state that prides itself on being larger than life.
“You can now get places in a more legal fashion,” said Mike Mossman of Fort Hancock. “In Texas, we measure distances by hours rather than miles.”
The new speed limit does not apply to big trucks, which have a limit of 70 m.p.h. during the day. The speed limit at night is 65 m.p.h. statewide.
Most drivers had already been driving above the old 75 m.p.h. limit, Mr. Lopez said. “You get a safer highway when people are driving in more uniformed speeds,” he added.
Not all Texans are happy with the higher speed limit. Before it took effect, the Hudspeth County commissioners passed a resolution opposing the change, and the county judge, Becky Dean-Walker, complained that the new speed limit was “too dangerous.”
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