Allow me to share with you a story from four years ago:
I was driving Mom to visit Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and the Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Just after crossing the state line between MN and SD, there was a construction zone and I slowed down. Yet everyone was still passing us! I then noticed a speed limit sign in the construction zone. I turned to Mom and said “OMG! If construction zones are 65 out here, what’s the regular speed limit?” We soon found out...it was 75! I was like Yeeee-HAWWWWWW!
Same here in AZ. The I-10 corridor between Phoenix and Tucson is, well, beautifully desolate; in other words, great geography, but practically nothing as far as Civilization goes (only a few small burgs here and there).
And as huge a state as Texas is...I only got a small taste of it two months ago...I can certainly see that beautiful desolation. Well, Texas just enacted legislation which raises the daytime speed limit in a few west Texas highways, namely, I-10 and I-20 west of San Antonio, to 80 MPH! With straight roads mile after mile and long distances between exits, this makes sense, and it’ll make Texas more tolerable for me (as well as other drivers) to drive through next time I’m there. Hopefully, western states such as AZ, NM, UT, and MT to name a few, will also take the hint.
Yeeee-HAWWWWWW!