Texas is in the midst of a tolling boom. While public funding for transportation falls far short of the state’s needs, Texas is increasingly turning to toll roads and toll lanes to pick up the slack.
This map identifies every toll project currently open to drivers in Texas as well as more than 15 other toll projects in some stage of development. We’ve classified the projects under three categories: “Open,” “Open but unfinished” and “In development.” Projects labeled "Open but unfinished" are open to drivers, but still have portions that are in development. Projects that are "In development" can run the gamut from being the focus of environmental impact studies to ones that are under construction and scheduled to open later this year.
Drivers in Houston and Dallas have been used to paying tolls to get around more congested routes for more than a decade. In recent years, Austin, Tyler and Laredo have joined the club. Other communities including Fort Worth, El Paso, Brownsville and Hidalgo County have toll projects in different stages of development.
The majority of the toll projects on the map are based on mapping files provided by the Texas Department of Transportation, the North Texas Tollway Authority, the Harris County Toll Road Authority, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, the San Antonio-Bexar County Metropolitan Planning Organization, the Hidalgo County Regional Mobility Authority and the North East Texas Regional Mobility Authority.
Additionally, toll projects overseen by the Metropolitan Authority of Harris County, the Camino Real Central Mobility Authority in El Paso and the Texas Department of Transportation were pieced together by hand based on information provided by those agencies.
This story is the first part in a four-part series on the growth of toll roads and lanes around the state. To view Part 2, a story looking at why Texas finds itself resorting to tolling so often to build new road projects, click here. To view Part 3, which examines why toll lane projects are poised to spread across the state in the coming years, click here. To view the final part, a look at the long-term impact of Gov. Rick Perry's failed bid to build the Trans-Texas Corridor, click here.
To use the map, hover over or click on (on a mobile device) a colored line that represents a toll project to view more information about that route.
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Comments (5)
J. E. Hollan
Thank you very much for this series. I wonder if it is true that plans are proceeding to build toll roads around metropolitan areas and then connect them later and in effect have the same result as the Trans Texas Corridor project would have created. Looking at the map, it sure does appear so. Also, I hope the series will include exactly how much it costs PER MILE to drive on the various toll roads, and which ones are operated by foreign-owned companies (e.g. Cintra Corp.).
Duane Gordy
The discussions on the funding issues for transportation have been happening around the state and it is amazing how many people after the meeting or conference express how they were unaware of the problems with transportation funding. This is a great thing since it will become one of key issues in addressing economic growth for the state. There are good and bad toll projects, but it is one of the tools that allows major projects to get constructed. The use of Transportation Reinvestment Zones that was modified last session in a bill from Pickett & Nichols will become one of the other keys for meeting the needs. As much as the focus in on funding (dollars to build vs revenues for debt service) the way we apply revenues to projects may be a more pointed discussion. The current discussions on how to raise revenue for transportation is going to be interesting to watch on both the state and federal level. Look forward to reading the rest of what will follow.
Mary Bell Lockhart
I hope in your investigation you follow the money to companies outside the state. Citizens and businesses resent being soaked to feed foreign profits. Take a look at Rick Perry's sweet deals to privatize Texas for fun and profits. Examine why it is that oil and gas- rich Texas can no longer pay for the roadways that burn that oil, much less pay for a proper public and higher education system and health care system for the poor and elderly. The corporatists of Texas moan that we can't afford those things that benefit the people, while they internalize the costs and export the profits to multi-nationals. It's called crony capitalism and the toll roads are a case en pointe.
H.M. Ruthe
This is great but I think there is more of the Grand Parkway under development
http://www.ourtribune.com/article.php?id=12888
Meme Me
Houstonians originally voted for a toll road because we were told that we needed to do this to fund the construction of the road which was to be built on the land that our state tax dollars had already bought and paid for. We were lead to believe that after this debt was paid that the tolls would end. Things changed as was revealed in the 2003 Independent Auditor’s report for the Toll Road Enterprise Fund of Harris County, Texas by Deloitte & Touche. At this time the debt was paid but The Toll Road Authority and Harris County Commissioners had become accustomed to the cash flow so they devised a plan to issue bonds and kept the cash flowing.
Last year the daily toll road income was 3.7 million PER DAY.