Small Town Pins Big Hopes on 85MPH Speed Limit

Road to open this fall

With a Central Texas highway soon to adopt the nation's fastest speed limit, business leaders in one town along the way have high hopes.

The new stretch of Texas Highway 130 runs several miles east of the increasingly crowded Interstate 35 corridor connecting Austin and San Antonio. It will have an 85 mph speed limit -- the fastest in the country -- when it opens this fall.

Town leaders in Lockhart -- about 30 miles south of Austin -- say they believe the expanded toll road will bring in new development and jobs. The Austin American-Statesman reports that Lockhart officials want their town to be known for more than just good barbeque.

But other areas along existing parts of Texas 130 remain undeveloped years after the highway opened.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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