The Fascinating History of Michigan’s Speed Limits and Changing Road Signs

One of Michigan's unspoken rules of the road is that speed limit signs often serve as recommendations rather than actual speed limits. Of course, we aren't condoning speeding, but anyone who has been on the highway around the state knows that the fast lane really is meant for the speed demons here in the Mitten State.

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Surprisingly, speed limits are actually a relatively new premise in Michigan, and few people know how speed limits are set. Here's a quick look at how speed limits and their signs have changed since the 1950s.

The Creation of Speed Limits

Michigan is renowned as the birthplace of the automobile, with Henry Ford introducing the Model T in 1908 and revolutionizing the industry. For many years, automobiles could not go very fast, with the original Model T having a top speed of 40-45 miles per hour (mph). As cars evolved and, more importantly, as roads evolved, drivers found themselves going faster and faster. However, there was no standard speed limit, which led to drivers traveling at whatever speeds they desired, wherever they chose.

READ MORE: Famously Car-less Mackinac Island Has One Recorded Car Accident

The highway system was enacted in 1956 by Dwight D. Eisenhower, but it wasn't until 1974 that a government-mandated speed limit was put in place. President Nixon established a national speed limit of 55 mph for all states. Michigan was ahead of the Nixon Administration because it had established its state speed limits nearly 20 years earlier.

Michigan's Unique Speed Limit Signs

Unlike the rest of the country, Michigan established a speed limit for its roads in 1955. In present day, most Michigan highways are a standard 55 minimum speed and 70 set as the speed limit (with some limits higher on certain highways), but in 1955 Michigan took a unique approach to speed limits by enacting a daytime/nightime speed limit.

As you can see in the photo below, State Highway Commissioner Charles M. Ziegler is pointing at a newly erected speed limit sign designating a speed limit of 65. If you look closely, you can see there is also a 5 intermixed with the 6. The geek in me finds this sign very cool, because these signs display a speed of 55 mph via reflective materials on the sign. So at night the sign reads 55 but during the day it reads 65.

65 mph was the standard until around 2005 when the limit was raised to 70 mph, the speed most of us are used to today.  If you're curious about how speed limits on each road is decided, you can read about that here.