# Lowest speed limit on an Interstate?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-speed-limit-on-an-interstate/636272
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 30, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-speed-limit-on-an-interstate/636272 "2012-09-30T02:31:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2012, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-speed-limit-on-an-interstate/636272/21 "2012-10-01T23:14:50Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#):
>
> This. The answer is stopped. Zero. Gridlock. Every hour of every day. Trust me on this. Driving through Breezewood is miserable and is best avoided.
Well, there’s no question that I’ve never seen a more wretched hive of scum and villainy, but that’s not the same as the lowest posted speed limit…
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### Author:  [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2012, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-speed-limit-on-an-interstate/636272/22 "2012-10-01T23:32:47Z")
> [@beowulff](#):
>
> Well, there’s no question that I’ve never seen a more wretched hive of scum and villainy, but that’s not the same as the lowest posted speed limit…
I suppose you’re right, but speed limits are superseded by traffic lights, of which there is one on that section of I-70. So, still zero.
But if you’re looking for the actual posted speed limit, I recall it being 35.
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-speed-limit-on-an-interstate/636272/23 "2012-10-02T00:32:54Z")
I think I’ve seen a 5mph limit near toll booths but that has been long replaced with a 65 MPH EZ pass lane, I think those still paying cash need to stop to complete there transaction 😃
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### Author:  [@al27052](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/al27052)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2012, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-speed-limit-on-an-interstate/636272/24 "2012-10-02T00:43:43Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#):
>
> There’s a section of I-40 in Winston Salem NC that used to have a speed limit of 45 where it went around a big twisty turn near a hospital. I haven’t been back there in 15 years or so, so I don’t know if it’s still like that.
You’re talking about Hawthorne Curve, which was an EXTREMELY dangerous spot. They’ve since rerouted the curve, to make it safer. Now, though, that whole stretch of road is considered Business 40, they’ve built a bypass just south of town, which is what is called I-40 now.
I bet there are some places like the poster above mentioned in the Intermountain West where there are some very curvy/steep stretches of road where the posted limit might be 35. The Rockies are some steep mountains.
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### Author:  [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2012, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-speed-limit-on-an-interstate/636272/25 "2012-10-02T13:37:44Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#):
>
> I drove across the country once long ago and remember a stretch of interstate that basicaly runs right up to the edge of one of the Great Lakes, then does an absolute 90 degree right turn. Concrete walls on both sides.
>
> I remember it so well because of the skidmarks, car parts and general carnage littering the area. It was surreal.
>
> I think it was Cleveland. And I think it was posted 25 mph (but that would have been a yellow sign).
Ah! You’ve found [Dead Man’s Curve!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Man's_Curve)
Welcome to Cleveland! Stay a while, and slow the fuck down! 😃
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### Author:  [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2012, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-speed-limit-on-an-interstate/636272/26 "2012-10-02T13:49:27Z")
I don’t recall exaclty what the speed limit is (45 maybe?) but where I-70 turns from Kansas city, Kansas across the Kansas River into Missouri, there is a [90’ turn](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=i+70+and+i+670&hl=en&ll=39.112414,-94.61606&spn=0.018747,0.019398&sll=38.304661,-92.437099&sspn=4.852765,4.96582&t=h&hnear=Interstate+70+%26+Interstate+670,+Kansas+City,+Jackson,+Missouri+64106&z=15) where the roadway is ribboned with skidmarks, and bent guardrail and pieces of headlights and fenders abound.
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### Author:  [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2012, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-speed-limit-on-an-interstate/636272/27 "2012-10-02T14:01:10Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#):
>
> There’s a section of I-40 in Winston Salem NC that used to have a speed limit of 45 where it went around a big twisty turn near a hospital. I haven’t been back there in 15 years or so, so I don’t know if it’s still like that.
They finished the by-pass around down-town Winston-Salem about 18 years ago. That section is now on Business 40, and I’m remembering it was 35. It was surreal to be driving up to Boone, and having to slow down for a right angle turn in the middle of the Interstate.
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### Author:  [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2012, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-speed-limit-on-an-interstate/636272/28 "2012-10-02T14:11:03Z")
> [@snowmaster](#):
>
> I-70 in Breezewood, PA likely has a mighty slow speed limit for an interstate highway, being a massive stip of commercialism festooned with traffic lights.
Looking at Google Maps for Breezewood, PA, It looks like I-70 splits off of I-76 and goes into town, but I-70 ends at Main St., which is designated as US-30, and definitely NOT an Interstate highway.
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### Author:  [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2012, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-speed-limit-on-an-interstate/636272/29 "2012-10-03T04:21:25Z")
The roadgeeks group (Usenet) pondered this from time to time. [The only thread I see on Google Groups](https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups=#!topic/misc.transport.road/zDNooemkjnU) distinguishes between actual posted speed limits and advisory signs for curves. It looks like there are quite a few 35 mph sections around the country. For sure, there’s one a few blocks from me, [where I-290 runs through the old post office](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=60607&ll=41.875445,-87.642902&spn=0.004768,0.006813&hnear=Chicago,+Illinois+60607&gl=us&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=41.875444,-87.643033&panoid=2UILolE7DTyYWFhP8fe0DQ&cbp=12,78.08,,0,8.18) in downtown Chicago.
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### Author:  [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2012, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-speed-limit-on-an-interstate/636272/30 "2012-10-03T13:17:07Z")
> [@FatBaldGuy](#):
>
> Looking at Google Maps for Breezewood, PA, It looks like I-70 splits off of I-76 and goes into town, but I-70 ends at Main St., which is designated as US-30, and definitely NOT an Interstate highway.
The wikipedia page [List of Gaps in the Interstate Highway System](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gaps_in_Interstate_Highways) has it listed as a freeway gap as opposed to a true gap, meaning it is still considered part of the Interstate route even though it’s not a freeway. (The page also has a picture of the Breezewood mess with an I-70 sign right next to a 35 MPH sign.)
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