I'm so glad that the air quality has increased so that speed limits can be increased to produce more emissions.

I may be one of the few that is not all that happy with the increased speed limits on the interstates going through Knoxville.

"We found that 87%-98% of motorists were already going over the 55 mph speed limit." ... "In some spots over 25% of all traffic was traveling above that critical speed (15 mph over limit)."

It seems odd that a reason to increase the speed limit is that drivers are breaking the current speed limits. With higher speed limits, does this mean drivers will again go faster and break the current speed limits?

You're not alone. You and I honed in on the exact same sentences from that article.

Rather than enforce speed limits tied to national, scientifically determined fuel economy standards ((link...)), the City and State just increased speed limits on I-40 and I-640 through Knoxville.

Posted by Knox Science Alliance this morning:

"Emissions from driving in the Knoxville, Tenn., metro area grew faster than population between 1990 and 2017, which means emissions per person have increased."

"Even as the United States has reduced carbon dioxide emissions from its electric grid, largely by switching from coal power to less-polluting natural gas, emissions from transportation have remained stubbornly high.

The bulk of those emissions, nearly 60 percent, come from the country’s 250 million passenger cars, S.U.V.s and pickup trucks, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Freight trucks contribute an additional 23 percent."

(link...)

I recently drove a loaner car with a built-in navigation system. As soon as I hit Chapman Highway (at Martin Mill) the speed limit came up as 65 mph.