PHOENIX - A state lawmaker has put the brakes on legislation that would have raised the speed limit on rural interstates to 80 mph.

Rep. Gary Pierce, R-Mesa, refused to hear the bill in the House Committee on Transportation, where he is chairman.

The bill had gained approval in the state Senate and could have given Arizona the state's highest speed limit.

Pierce said the bill was pointless because it would have given the Arizona Department of Transportation the power to study the possibility of raising the speed limit and to decide whether to raise it. The bill would not have mandated an increase.

The legislation is redundant because ADOT already has the power to increase the speed limits, Pierce said.

"ADOT can study this all they want," Pierce said. "They already have authority to study it."

A combination of safety concerns and worries that increasing the speed limit would make people speed more also contributed to his decision, Pierce said.

"The speed limit is 75 now, and I don't think that stops people from going faster," Pierce said.

Pierce wants to gut the bill's current content and replace it with legislation that would order ADOT to study safety issues concerning Loop 101 in Scottsdale.

The demise of the speed limit bill was welcome news at ADOT, which has become more vocal about its opposition to increased speeds in recent weeks.

"We had raised concerns about the legislation," said Doug Nintzel, ADOT spokesman.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Thayer Verschoor, R-Gilbert, said improved technology in car manufacturing and road construction made an 80 mph speed limit more appropriate.

Nintzel argued that just because cars can go faster doesn't mean they should.

"It's sending the wrong message about how to drive on the state's interstates and highways," Nintzel said. "Just knowing that a lot of people already push the limits ... we didn't see the need to raise the speed limit by 5 mph."

Arizona raised the speed limit on rural interstates to 65 mph in 1986, becoming the first state in the nation to increase limits after they were set at 55 mph during the nationwide gas shortages in the 1970s.

Later legislation ended federal limits on speed, and ADOT raised speed limits to 75 mph on all rural interstate highways and on Interstate 10 between Phoenix and Tucson in 1995.