The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • A14

14A SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2006 THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER www.charlotte.comNATION By Thayer Evans New York Times FORT HANCOCK, Texas Just past mile marker 61, heading east on Interstate 10, the roar of accel- erating vehicle engines booms across the West Texas landscape. There, amid creosote bushes, mesquite trees and the occa- sional cactus, is a heavy-footed dream a road sign de- claring a speed limit of 80 miles per hour that coincides with en- try into bucolic Hudspeth County. State officials approved the new speed limit in May, making it the highest legal limit in the United States. The old speed lim- it had been 75 mph, said Carlos Lopez, director of traffic oper- ations for the Texas Department of Transportation. The 80 mph zone extends east on Interstate 10 from the El Paso County line, through Hudspeth County and beyond.

It includes 521 miles of high- way in parts of 10 counties, Lopez said. can now get places in a more legal said Mike Mossman of Fort Hancock. Texas, we measure distances by hours rather than The new limit does not apply to big trucks, which have a limit of 70 mph during the day. The speed limit at night is 65 mph statewide for all drivers. Most drivers had already been driving above the old 75 mph lim- it, Lopez said.

get a safer highway when people are driving in more uniformed he added. Not all Texans are happy with the higher speed limit. Before it took effect, the Hudspeth County Commissioners Court passed a resolution opposing the change, and a county judge, Becky Dean- Walker, complained that the new speed limit was next? Dean- Walker asked. keep go- She also said the new speed limit is a burden on the county. Most of Hudspeth County, which has a population of 3,295 and an area of 4,572 square miles, is served by a volunteer ambulance service.

The judge said she was concerned the ambulance ser- vice will be overburdened by an increase in highway accidents. a poor Dean- Walker said. keep enough In Fort Hancock, a border town of 1,713 people about 30 miles east of El Paso, the issue has split the local population be- tween those who drive the new speed limit and those who do not. a personal said Jose Franco, superintendent of the Fort Hancock Independent School District. Franco said he observes a speed limit of 70 mph.

But the higher limit has been a boon for Mossman, who as the owner of a wholesale cactus and desert plant company drives some 80,000 miles a year across the Southwest. He said the roads with the new speed zones are so remote that waves at each other because they seen any other human in so 521-MILE PARADISE What, a paltry 75 mph speed limit? Not so fast Threshold for W. Texas freeway stretch is now 80 highest in U.S..