Would NJ Drivers Pay a Big Toll to Drive With No Speed Limit?

As I was driving to work this morning, going well below the posted speed limit thanks to people who had no particular place to go, I had a bizarre idea.

There should be one road in New Jersey that doesn't have a speed limit.

What if there was one road in this state where we all just said, "the hell with it, go do whatever you want."

Do Speed Limits Really Matter in NJ?

I know what you're thinking, those roads almost exist already — they're called the Turnpike and the Parkway where the "65" on the speed limit signs are merely vague suggestions on most days (and to our elected officials in Trenton: 65 on the big toll roads in this state is a joke - how about raising it to 70 or 75?)

But here me out for a moment as I try to persuade you into thinking this is a good idea (I'll admit, it's not).

Texas Did It First (Kinda) — and It Worked

Here's an almost-real-world example... years ago, portions of I-35 in Texas were seeing a huge increase in truck traffic, particularly around San Antonio and Austin, so folks down there built a bypass around those two cities. To get people to go a bit out of their way to use this bypass, they gave this road the highest speed limit in the nation — 85 MPH — and slapped a toll on the road.

In other words, if you gave the Texas Department of Transportation a few bucks, you could legally drive the fastest in the country. Certainly, an interesting situation.

As it turns out, millions of people were willing to pay that toll to hit those speeds.

• READ MORE: The One Spot in NJ Where You Can Ignore the Speed Limit

Could a No-Speed-Limit Toll Road Work in NJ?

So, two questions: would that idea work in New Jersey, and if so, what would you be willing to pay to drive with absolutely no speed limit — a New Jersey Autobahn, if you will.

Now, first things first. This idea is NOT being debated in Trenton. This idea will never see the light of day in New Jersey. This is all hypothetical.

But suppose the northern half of the Turnpike was reconfigured, where the outer truck lanes were to be used by all vehicles, and the inner, car-only lanes were where the speed limit was removed. And you can drive as fast as you can possibly go, but you have to pay a huge toll to use them.

What Would You Pay to Hit 120+ MPH Legally in NJ?

What would you be willing to spend?

Would you pay $50 per trip to legally drive 100 or 120+ MPH? $75? What about $100 per trip?

Again, I'll admit, this is a bad idea and it'll never happen in New Jersey, but it wasn't that long ago when Montana had roads where the posted speed limit was "reasonable and prudent." That vague definition was quite comical because if a police officer thought you were going too fast, based on whatever his interpretation of "reasonable and prudent" was, you would get a $5 speeding ticket.

Yes, $5. And you could pay the cop right then and there, and speed away.

Of course, if you're like me, you're now dreaming of driving on the Autobahn in Germany, where many sections have no posted speed limit. That road works well for one big reason: over there, it's embedded in your DNA that if you are driving slowly relative to the other cars on the Autobahn, you keep to your right. You don't even think about screwing around in the left lane. If you do, a BMW going 200 MPH is going to plow into the back of your Volkswagen Passat.

• READ MORE: Popular Website Says This is NJ's Most Dangerous Road

Sure, we have that law here in New Jersey, but how many times if you completely lost your temper being stuck behind someone from New York or Pennsylvania driving slowly in the left lane?

Getting back to my theoretical question: how big of a toll would you pay to drive as fast as you want in New Jersey, I might be tempted to pay $100 once or twice a year to just let loose. How about you?