Bill heading for Indiana Governor Mike Braun’s desk would raise speed limit on Interstate 465

INDIANAPOLIS — Anyone who has ever driven on Interstate 465 knows all too well that the 55 mph speed limit is often seen as more of a suggestion.

“To be honest it kind of feels like a race track,” one driver told FOX59/CBS4 in an interview. “Feels like the Indy 500 sometimes, you know?”

Some drivers told FOX59/CBS4 the left lane of the interstate can often put IndyCar to shame.

“We are going the speed limit and everyone is just passing by so quickly,” Tanya Cervantes said. “We’re going say maybe 10 miles over, so they have to be going 20 miles over.”

While 20 mph over the speed limit will still be pushing it, House Bill 1461 will get some drivers a little closer to being legal. The bill, which passed both the Indiana House of Representatives and Senate, would raise the speed limit from 55 mph to 65 mph.

The bill has yet to be signed by Gov. Mike Braun.

While the increase was welcome news to some, most drivers FOX59/CBS4 spoke with appeared unimpressed.

“I think that that makes sense,” one driver told FOX59/CBS4. “I don’t think anybody really drives the speed limit anyways.”

“People on there usually go 75-70, so I mean, changing it to 65 wouldn’t really do much,” Nathan Alvarez said.

While it’s well-known that drivers don’t always follow the speed limit, it is also well-known that I-465 sees a lot of nasty crashes, and many of them are attributed to speed violations.

Some drivers expressed concern that increasing the speed limit will only make things worse on I-465.

“If they increase that, people are just going to go faster,” Cervantes said. “I think they set a boundary, and then people always like to push that boundary.”

The Indiana Department of Transportation said it’s working to develop a plan to increase the speed limit.

In the meantime, the speed limit will remain at 55 mph. If the bill is signed by Gov. Braun, the new speed limit would go into effect along with all other new laws on July 1.