Truck Speed Limits by State 2026: CA 55 to SD 80 MPH

How to Read This Chart

The truck column is a typical 2026 rural Interstate CMV planning speed, not a statute reprint and not a promise that every mile of that state is posted there. Urban freeways, two-lane U.S. highways, night plaques, school zones, and double-fine work zones all cut the number. Construction on I-70, I-80, and I-95 will wipe a 70 overnight. Treat every cell as the number a dispatcher should pad a schedule with before the driver leaves the yard — then the driver still obeys the sign at the windshield.

Two traps produce most CMV speeding tickets we see on owner-operator MVRs. First, a car GPS or a passenger-car IIHS table that never mentions the truck split. Second, a state line that drops 15-20 mph with no drama on the big white sign — only a smaller TRUCKS 55 or TRUCKS 60 plaque. California, Washington, and Oregon are the career-enders; Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan are the quiet Midwest versions of the same mistake.

Posted signs always override this page, your ELD navigation, and your carrier's governor setting. If the two disagree, slow down and take the picture. For how a ticket then hits CSA, hiring, and insurance, see CDL speeding-ticket impact and CDL speeding-ticket consequences.

50-State CMV Interstate Speed Chart (2026 Planning)

Truck = typical rural Interstate CMV maximum. Cars = typical passenger rural Interstate maximum. Split = whether trucks are held below cars on that system as a rule or on major rural miles. Watch-for is the operational note, not a second speed limit.

Highlighted rows are split-speed or mixed-split states. California 55 and Washington 60 are the two numbers that wreck the most OTR schedules when a car-GPS ETAs the trip.

Split-Speed States: Where the Car Sign Lies

A split (differential) limit exists because a loaded combination vehicle needs more stopping distance than a car, and because some legislatures still believe mixing 80-mph cars with 80-mph 80,000-lb trucks is a bad idea. The enforcement problem is design: many states put 70 or 75 on the big sign and bury 55, 60, or 65 on a tab. Four-wheelers will still pass you at the car number. Troopers will still write you at the truck number.

Left-Lane and Truck-Lane Bans

Speed is only half of CMV lane law. The other half is where you are allowed to put the truck while you are legal on the speedometer. Three patterns show up on tickets:

• Keep right except to pass. Default in a long list of states. Lingering in the hammer lane after the pass is the citation, even at a legal speed.
• Outright left-lane bans on highways with three or more lanes. Georgia's 6+ wheel rule and New Jersey's truck left-lane restrictions are the ones OTR drivers hit most. Florida posts similar bans on designated stretches.
• Truck-only or truck-excluded lanes on grades, some toll roads, and a few metro corridors. A climbing lane is not optional courtesy — it is often the legal place for a loaded CMV.

Lane tickets look minor until they stack with a speed ticket as a second moving violation on the same trip. They also aggravate four-wheelers, which is how unsafe-lane-change and following-too-close stops start. The sign at the gore point is the law. GPS lane guidance is a guess.

Night, Urban, and Work-Zone Cuts

The 50-state table is a rural daytime Interstate planning number. Three overlays take that number away without changing the state:

Virginia deserves its own warning because it is not just a CMV rule: 20 mph over the posted limit, or any speed at or above 85, can be reckless driving — a Class 1 misdemeanor with jail exposure. Running 86 in a 70 to pass a governed truck is how CDL holders turn a rolling violation into a criminal one.

Speed Governors vs Posted State Limits

Most mega-carriers set speed governors at 62-68 mph. That is a company ECM cap, not a legal shield. Three interactions matter:

• Governor above the state truck limit. A 65-mph company truck in California (55) or rural Washington (60) is still speeding. The limiter will happily let you commit the offense.
• Governor below the state limit. Legal, slower, and the source of elephant races when two trucks 2 mph apart try to pass. Do not sit in the left lane for a mile to gain 2 mph in a 65-truck state.
• Downgrades. Governors cut fuel. They do not apply the brakes. Gravity will take a loaded truck past 55, 60, or 65 on a grade, which is exactly how California and mountain-state tickets happen with a perfectly legal ECM setting.

Owner-operators who self-govern at 68-70 for fuel still have to drive the posted CMV number. Fuel math lives in our speed vs fuel economy and safe-speed guides. The legal number is this chart.

Why 5 mph Over the Truck Limit Can Cost a CDL

The ticket is written against the posted CMV limit, not the car limit, and not your governor. If California is 55 and you are at 70 because that is what Arizona just was, you are 15 over — the federal serious-traffic-violation line under 49 CFR 383.51. Two of those in three years can park a CDL for 60 days. That is not a $250 inconvenience; it is missed mortgage payments.

Even 6-10 over adds CSA Unsafe Driving weight, shows on a PSP report, and is enough for many mega-carriers to refuse a hire. Insurance treats a CMV speeding conviction as a rate event for 3-5 years. Paying the ticket online is a guilty plea. Details on record duration and hiring screens: impact guide. Details on DQ math and fighting the charge: consequences guide.

Trip Planning Against Real Truck Speeds

Dispatch that quotes a 550-mile day using 70 mph car math is dispatch that will ask you to speed. Realistic loaded CMV planning speed on a mixed OTR week is often 55-65 once you include fuel stops, ramps, and the slow states — not the 70 on the four-wheeler GPS.

Worked example: Ontario, CA to Phoenix is about 340 miles. A car GPS at 70 mph calls it under 5 hours. A truck at California 55 until the Arizona line, then 75, is closer to 6 hours before you add scales, fuel, and Phoenix traffic. Book the appointment on the truck clock or you will be the driver tempted to run 70 in the 55.

Second example: a Chicago–Indianapolis–Columbus day crosses Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio splits. The rural car number is 70. The truck number is 65. Three states, same trap, and a 65-governed truck is already at the legal ceiling — there is no extra 5 mph to “make up time.”

If you are building lanes, pair this chart with HOS, governor settings, and a dispatcher who will not sell a 600-mile California day. That is the actual product: on-time at a legal truck speed, not a car-ETA fantasy.

Four Corridors Where the Number Changes Under You

Memorizing 50 cells is less useful than knowing the four Interstates that produce most of the split-speed tickets we see. Run these with the truck plaque, not last night's memory of the car number.

How to Verify a State's Current CMV Posting

Before you treat a cell as gospel for a high-stakes run (hazmat, a tight receiver, or a state you have not crossed this year), confirm three sources in this order: (1) the truck plaque at the last interchange, (2) the state DOT or state police CMV / size-and-weight page, (3) a current IIHS or state statute compilation for whether a split still exists. Our dispatchers also ask the last truck that ran the lane this week — live plaque photos beat a year-old blog table, including this one after a legislature retimes a corridor.

If a shipper's appointment was built on car-GPS miles-per-hour, push back before you hook, not at the gate. A legal 55-mph California day cannot absorb a 70-mph promise. That conversation is cheaper than a serious violation, a CSA hit, and a 20-35% insurance increase documented in the impact guide linked above.