Speed Trend Characteristics

HIGHWAY CATEGORIES	1976	1978	1980	1982	1984	1986	1988	1990	1991
AVERAGE SPEED
Urban Interstate	56.1	56.7	55.4	56.3	57.2	57.4	58.6	58.6	58.8
Urban Other Freeways & Expressways	-	-	-	56.0	56.6	56.7	57.5	57.6	58.0
Urban Other Principal & Minor Arterials	-	-	-	51.5	52.9	53.5	53.9	54.1	54.0
Rural Interstate	58.2	58.8	57.5	59.0	59.3	59.7	59.5	60.4	59.9
Rural Other Principal & Minor Arterials	-	-	-	54.3	54.9	55.3	56.0	56.4	56.4
Rural Major Collectors	-	-	-	51.6	52.1	52.9	53.6	54.3	54.3
MEDIAN SPEED (MPH)2
Urban Interstate	56.1	56.5	-	56.4	57.3	57.7	58.7	58.7	58.8
Urban Other Freeways & Expressways	-	-	-	56.2	56.7	56.8	57.7	57.7	58.0
Urban Other Principal & Minor Arterials	-	-	-	51.7	53.0	53.5	54.4	54.1	53.9
Rural Interstate	57.9	58.6	-	58.9	59.2	59.7	59.6	60.2	59.4
Urban Other Principal & Minor Arterials	-	-	-	54.4	55.0	55.3	56.2	56.4	56.3
Rural Major Collectors	-	-	-	51.8	52.3	52.9	54.0	54.6	54.5
85TH PERCENTILE (MPH)3
Urban Interstate	60.9	61.4	60.1	62.7	63.7	64.3	65.6	65.8	66.1
Urban Other Freeways & Expressways	-	-	-	62.1	63.0	63.2	64.2	64.6	64.9
Urban Other Principal & Minor Arterials	-	-	-	58.6	59.3	60.1	60.7	61.1	60.8
Rural Interstate	61.8	63.7	62.1	65.1	65.6	66.2	66.4	67.6	67.2
Urban Other Principal & Minor Arterials	-	-	-	61.1	61.5	62.2	62.8	63.2	63.1
Rural Major Collectors	-	-	-	59.4	59.8	60.6	61.4	62.0	62.1
PERCENT EXCEEDING 55 MPH
Urban Interstate	57.0	60.0	51.2	58.4	63.3	64.8	69.7	69.8	69.8
Urban Other Freeways & Expressways	-	-	-	53.8	59.0	59.6	64.7	65.0	66.5
Urban Other Principal & Minor Arterials	-	-	-	32.4	37.6	40.7	42.6	43.6	42.2
Rural Interstate	69.0	74.0	65.9	73.1	75.1	76.2	74.0	77.6	75.5
Rural Other Principal & Minor Arterials	-	-	-	46.2	49.8	52.4	54.9	56.3	56.5
Rural Major Collectors	-	-	-	34.8	35.6	40.9	42.8	45.4	46.7
PERCENT EXCEEDING 60 MPH
Urban Interstate	20.0	23.0	15.6	25.2	30.7	33.5	39.9	40.7	41.4
Urban Other Freeways & Expressways	-	-	-	23.2	27.4	28.8	33.0	34.2	35.3
Urban Other Principal & Minor Arterials	-	-	-	11.6	13.2	15.8	17.5	18.8	18.2
Rural Interstate	32.0	36.0	25.3	39.6	43.4	45.5	45.5	50.4	47.6
Rural Other Principal & Minor Arterials	-	-	-	19.1	20.4	22.5	24.9	27.1	26.8
Rural Major Collectors	-	-	-	14.8	14.8	17.5	18.4	20.7	21.7
PERCENT EXCEEDING 65 MPH
Urban Interstate	5.0	5.0	3.2	7.4	9.9	12.0	15.9	17.1	18.0
Urban Other Freeways & Expressways	-	-	-	6.3	8.3	9.1	11.1	12.0	12.5
Urban Other Principal & Minor Arterials	-	-	-	3.5	3.2	4.4	5.0	5.8	5.7
Rural Interstate	10.0	10.0	6.5	13.9	16.0	18.2	18.8	23.2	20.9
Rural Other Principal & Minor Arterials	-	-	-	6.2	6.4	7.3	8.5	9.6	9.2
Rural Major Collectors	-	-	-	5.6	5.3	6.3	6.6	7.4	7.9

        1       Data in this table are only for highways with a 55 mph
                speed limit.
        2       Median speed is the speed at or below which 50 percent of
                the vehicles are traveling.
        3       85th percentile speed is the speed at or below which 85
                percent of the vehicles are traveling.

Source: U.S. DOT/FHWA, Highway Statistics, annual issues, Tables
        VS-1, VS-2.