Raising speed limits for revenue?!

http://www.statesman.com/news/conten...7/11SPEED.html

If it asks you to register, just go to bugmenot's website to get a
user/pass combo (unless you really want to give personal information out
just to read an article).

> The higher the speed limit, the more money the state would collect
> on Texas 130's southern 40 miles under the contract recently signed
> with road developer Cintra-Zachry.
>
> < ... >
>
> Although Cintra-Zachry will operate the southern 40 miles of Texas
> 130, the speed limits will be controlled by the state. The Texas
> Transportation Commission, appointed by the governor, sets those
> limits, but only within upper limits set by the Legislature.
>
> None of this applies to the northerly 49 miles of Texas 130 being
> built from Georgetown to south of Austin-Bergstrom International
> Airport, some of which is due to open in December. The state, not
> Cintra-Zachry, is building and will operate that toll road. And it
> was designed several years ago, long before the Trans-Texas Corridor
> and its 85-mph limit was contemplated. Russell said that part will
> open with a 70-mph speed limit.
>
> Not so with the southern 40 miles from Mustang Ridge to Interstate
> 10 at Seguin. The state last month signed a thousand-plus-page
> contract with Cintra-Zachry, a Spanish-American partnership, for the
> company to build the four-lane road at an estimated cost of $1.3
> billion and operate it for 50 years.

> The contract contemplates that Cintra-Zachry would pay the state an
> upfront concession fee of $25 million and 4.65 percent of toll
> revenue until total revenue reaches certain thresholds in any given
> year. Then the portion for the state would grow to 9.3 percent until
> a second revenue threshold is reached, jumping to 50 percent after
> that.
>
> But that is only if the speed limit is 70 mph.
>
> The contract says that if the speed limit is 80 mph, the upfront
> payment would be $92 million. At 85 mph, the payment would be $125
> million.
>
> Or the state could choose, rather than taking more upfront, to
> collect higher percentages of the toll revenue. The higher speed
> limits would have to be imposed within the road's first six months
> of operation for the state to get the extra money. The road is
> expected to open by 2012.

In article >, Arif Khokar wrote:
> http://www.statesman.com/news/conten...7/11SPEED.html

> > The contract says that if the speed limit is 80 mph, the upfront
> > payment would be $92 million. At 85 mph, the payment would be $125
> > million.
> >
> > Or the state could choose, rather than taking more upfront, to
> > collect higher percentages of the toll revenue. The higher speed
> > limits would have to be imposed within the road's first six months
> > of operation for the state to get the extra money. The road is
> > expected to open by 2012.

There are some really funky things going on in texas with the roads and
the NAFTA highway and the like. Most of it smells bad.

My guess on this provision is that the state knows that higher speed
limits would bring higher traffic volumes and greater throughput. Thusly
they want a bigger cut.

Question is, are there timed distance speeding tickets between tolls?