A stretch of Highway 191 in Montana (Photo by Darrell Ehrlick of the Daily Montanan).
Passing another vehicle on the highway is best done quickly and safely — and that second provision often requires the first.
“You want to get by sooner than later,” said Rep. Jed Hinkle, R-Belgrade, on the Montana House floor on Tuesday. Passing slowly, especially when overtaking a large vehicle such as a semi-truck, “often results in a chipped windshield.”
That’s why Hinkle brought House Bill 312, his second session sponsoring similar legislation. The bill would raise the speed limits on U.S. highways within Montana that have been expanded from two to four lanes by five miles per hour. Speed limits would be 75 mph during the day, and 70 at night.
Under current Montana law, drivers on two-lane highways can exceed a posted speed limit by 10 mph while overtaking another vehicle in a designated passing area. However, that provision does not apply to passing on four-lane highways, meaning it can be unlawful to drive fast enough to safely pass, say, a semi going 65 mph.
With an amendment requested by the Department of Transportation, the faster speed limit will only apply to stretches of road at least 10 miles in length, meaning it will only apply to a section of U.S. Highway 287 between Townsend and I-90 near Three Forks. It would not apply, for example, to U.S. Highway 93 between Kalispell and Whitefish, which is only about nine miles long.
The House approved the bill 76-24 on second reading.