Environmental and economic effects of Speed Limits

[Hentrich, Steffen]

Dear Armchairs,

I'm looking for recent studies of environmental and economic effects of speed limits. 
Who knows something about that topic?

Steffen 

Re: Environmental and economic effects of Speed Limits

[Alex Tabarrok]

Charles Lave of UC Irvine has done a lot of work on the economics of
speed limits - he had an AER paper a few years ago.  I doubt that there
is much of an environmental effect - the main environmental effect is
due to congestion not speed limits.

Alex Tabarrok

RE: Environmental and economic effects of Speed Limits

[Michael Etchison]

Alex Tabarrok:
>I doubt that there is much of an environmental effect - the main
environmental effect is due to congestion not speed limits.<

Texas, at this moment, is wrestling with what to do about speed limits
in order to satisfy the EPA.  For now, the speed limit in the
Houston-Galveston area is 55.  (This has not gone down well.)  The Texas
Natural Resource Conservation Commission (yes, they made it singular --
which may be why the Legislature decided to change its name altogether)
finally got around to looking at data and learned that heavy vehicles at
top speeds produced far more NOx etc. than passenger cars.  So now
they're trying to figure out a way to persuade the EPA, the Texas Dep't
of Transportation, and not least truck drivers that there should be two
speed limits in non-attainment areas such as Houston-Galveston -- 70 for
cars, 55 for the big rigs.

Michael