Workers change speed limit signage due to the National Maximum Speed Law signed into law by Richard Nixon, 1974
The National Maximum Speed Law was enacted as part of the Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act, setting a nationwide speed limit of 55 mph to conserve fuel during the OPEC oil embargo.
The law required states to comply with the limit to continue receiving federal highway funding. Most of it was repealed in 1995, restoring individual states' control over their own speed limits.
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