Have you been speeding on Interstate 25 through Colorado Springs and feeling guilty about it?

Shed those negative vibes: You haven’t been alone. In fact, state traffic engineers have decided to raise the interstate’s speed limit through town after staking out traffic this summer with a radar gun and finding 85 percent of cars already were going 69 mph – 14 mph over the speed limit.

That finding, plus a decrease in accidents since the COSMIX renovation of I-25, convinced engineers that it would be safe to bump the 55 mph speed limit to 65 mph between Briargate Parkway and the South Nevada Avenue/Tejon Street exit.

The Colorado Department of Transportation tries to adhere to a national standard that sets speed limits at the speed at which 85 percent of vehicles travel, spokesman Bob Wilson said.

He said that reduces conflicts and accidents caused by extreme discrepancies in speed.Wilson said the Colorado Springs Police Department supports the higher speed. The officer in charge of traffic could not be reached Tuesday afternoon.

Yeah, Wilson knows what you’re thinking: We’re all traveling closer to 70 mph than 65, so why not round up to some real cruisin’ speed?

Can’t, he said. CDOT has a policy of setting a maximum speed limit of 65 mph through an urban area, no matter how fast traffic might be moving.

And just because you’ve been speeding doesn’t mean CDOT has to. Wilson said it will take three or four weeks before the new speed limit takes effect. Crews, he said, need time to make new speed limit signs, which are generally placed just before and just after each interchange.

The current 75 mph speed limit north of Briargate and the 65 mph speed limit south of Nevada/Tejon to Academy Boulevard will remain the same.

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Contact the writer: 636-0197 or bill.mckeown@gazettedev.gazette.com

U.S. Sen.-elect Mark Udall, right, joins his wife, Maggie Fox, in greeting supporters as they celebrate during the Democrats’ gala in Denver on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008. Photo by (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)