Speed Limit on Hwy 212 now set at 65 mph for all traffic

 

October 10, 2019

The new speed limit on Highway 212 - 65 mph across the board for all traffic, day or night, became law last week.

Last Wednesday, an alarming Facebook post went viral across our area. The post, originally written by Kyle Fulmer, described a change in speed limit along US Hwy 212, from Crow Agency across Southeastern Montana to the Wyoming border, just past Alzada.

Social media being what it is, all sorts of speculation and half-truths swirled across the fibers of the interwebs like eddies in a trout stream, as to whom the speed limit applied and what consequences would befall those who broke the rules.

Here are the facts:

The speed limit on Highway 212 is now 65 mph, day or night, for all traffic.

The change in speed comes after the Montana Department of Transportation received complaints from the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, and subsequently conducted an engineering study on the entire corridor (that is, from the State Line near Alzada to Crow Agency).

Following the engineering study, Montana Department of Transportation Officials ran the plan by County Commissioners in Bighorn, Rosebud, Powder River, and Carter Counties. This occurred mid-summer of this year. At that time, the Powder River County Commissioners did not have any sort of timeline on when or if a change would actually take place.

Eventually the Montana Transportation Commission, a five person committee working in Helena, approved he change to a restricted speed zone.

Shane Mintz, Montana DOT Supervisor for the Glendive Office, noted that the reasoning behind the change came from the vast amount of truck traffic on Hwy 212. According to Mintz, on roads statewide, 6-10% of traffic on the road is truck traffic. On Hwy 212, that number jumps to around 30%.

Hwy 212 has seen a number of wrecks recently. According to the Powder River County Sheriff's Dispatch, the Sheriff's Department has responded to twenty seven wrecks on Hwy 212 in 2019, many of which involved trucks.

The restricted speed zone is not without precedent. With the increase in truck traffic in the Bakken, several years ago Montana DOT created a special speed zone on Montana 16, between Sidney and Fairview. Mintz said that the Fairview restricted speed zone has likely resulted in fewer accidents along that stretch of road.

Due to the special conditions on Hwy 212, the road is now considered a "restricted speed zone". What this means is that those caught speeding on 212 will now be subject to a different state code than those traveling regular speed areas. In practice, this means that ticket fines for 1-10 mph over the speed limit will increase from $20 to $55, while the previous $70 ticket will now set a speeder back $105.

Another major change is that when going to pass a vehicle in a special speed zone, a driver is not allowed 10 mph over the limit to pass, as is law on normal roads.

Some of confusion on the internet seemed to stem from a nearly simultaneous change in state law, which upped the speed limit on highways for trucks to 65, day or night. That means that truck traffic on Highway 59 will now increase in speed, with other drivers still able to maintain 70 mph. This law, passed in the last state legislature, went into effect on October 1.

One point for drivers headed north or south on Hwy 59 – the portion of 59 where one travels on 212, that is, between the Gillette turn-off and the Miles City turn-off which were previously a 70 mph zone will now be reduced in the restricted speed zone, with speeds changed to 65.

The complete surprise with which the change in speed limits occurred also added to the confusion. Shane Mintz commented: "We should've put something out there to the public."

Now that the change has been implemented, a driver may take solace in the fact that the approximately four minutes of added drive time gained by going 65 versus 70 mph between Broadus and Alzada gives a driver just about enough time to jam out to the guitar solo from Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird". So crank up the tunes, set the cruise on 65, and enjoy the journey, while secretly yearning for the glory days of the "reasonable and prudent" speed limit.

 

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