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As a relatively new driver, I have often wondered why you have to pay to drive on certain roads in Texas. Here in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, it seems like most of the major highways, especially the new ones being built, have tolls. In addition, even some highways that were free now have pay lanes. The American ideal of freedom that you experience when you hop in your car to go wherever you want, with the windows down and the wind in your hair, is being eroded. Now you have to stop and think, “Can I afford this?” Up until the last few years, you did not have to worry about coming up with the money to pay for driving on a road when you needed to get from here to there. So, what happened? Why do the tolls never end? Is this practice lawful or constitutional? Why have some cities started charging tolls on certain lanes on a highway that is paid for? Why do Texans have to pay road taxes on gas and also pay a toll to drive on roads? In my search for answers, I have found that the issue of building and maintaining a transportation system is actually rather complicated and is, of course, all about money.
To better understand exactly what a toll road is, let us define it. “A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private roadway for which a fee is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recuperate the cost of road construction and maintenance, which amounts to a form of taxation” (1 Definition for Toll Road). Long ago the word turnpike originally referred to “a spiked barrier fixed in or across a road or passage as a defense against sudden attack” (2 Turnpike). “A gate set across a road, to stop travelers and carriages until the toll is paid for the privilege of passage thereon” was also called a turnpike (3 What is TURNPIKE?). It seems that originally tollways and turnpikes hindered freedom of movement. Toll roads today are typically limited-access expressways where drivers can travel at high speeds. The toll roads that are near my house are nice and spacious and will provide a fast way to go places in the Metroplex, but they are very expensive.
The first tollway in Texas began in 1953 by the Texas Turnpike Authority. It was called the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike, and it connected downtown Dallas to downtown Fort Worth. It was understood from the beginning that once the construction was paid for, the toll would be removed. Consequently, in 1978, 17 years ahead of schedule, the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike tolls were removed, and the road was renamed Interstate 30 and turned over to the Highway Department to be maintained as a free highway. In 1968 the Dallas North Tollway, the state’s second toll road, was opened. However, after the initial roadway was finished and paid for, the tolls did not end, and it was not turned over to the Highway Department. The reasons for not removing the tolls were that the State Highway Fund could not cover the cost of maintenance of the tollway and that there were several extensions to the original project that needed funding (16 Milestones).
Bureaucrats are famous for never giving up a revenue stream voluntarily. The current practice is to routinely tie toll roads and extensions or expansions together into a single financial system in order to keep them from being separated from the rest and declared finished, which would end the tolls. This sneaky practice guarantees that the tollway is never paid for and delays the paid-off date indefinitely. Therefore, tolls have continued for decades and have grown heavier and more onerous each year. Thanks to citizen outcry, in the 2019 session of the Texas Legislature, State Senator Bob Hall and Representative Matt Shaheen introduced bills SB 374 and HB 436 to “force tolls to come off the road when the debt is paid” (13 Hall). Without this pushback, Texans would be forced to pay tolls on these toll roads indefinitely. In fact, the Texas Constitution, Art. I, Sec. 26 prohibits perpetuities (19 The Texas Constitution). Therefore, continuing to toll a road forever is unconstitutional. According to Terri Hall, of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, lawmakers have been aware of this unlawfulness since 2011, but tolling agencies have not been forced to comply with the law. Also, because of a major lobbying effort by 13 different tolling agencies, the toll cessation bills were killed in committee. Compounding the injustice, these lobbyists were paid for by tax-payers. Ironically, these same lobbyists also helped to kill SB 29, sponsored by Senator Hall, and HB 281, sponsored by Representative Middleton, that would ban the practice of taxpayer-funded lobbying (13 Transportation 101).
To understand more about tolling, it is important to look at how roads are funded. One of the main sources of funding for creating and maintaining roads is the tax on gasoline and diesel. In Texas, the tax on gasoline is 38 cents per gallon, 18 cents of which goes to the federal government while 20 cents go to the state (4 Gruca). The Texas Constitution, Art. VIII, Sec. 7-A stipulates that five cents out of this 20 cents must go toward education while 15 cents goes to the state highway fund (5 The Texas Constitution). However, Texas has not changed its tax rate since 1991, and the federal rate has not changed since 1993 (6 Halbrook and Donald). The gas tax is no longer sufficient to cover all of the costs of building and maintaining infrastructure. This shortfall is intensified by today’s cars being more fuel efficient, therefore, using less gas, and construction costs skyrocketing by 83 percent. The Texas state highway fund also has money diverted to pay for increases in salary and benefits for state employees (4 Gruca). One way to generate more money for roads is to place tolls on roads.
The North Texas Tollway Authority, one of several tolling authorities in Texas, governs the toll roads in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. NTTA operates nearly 1,000 toll miles, which include the Dallas North Tollway, President George Bush Turnpike, Sam Rayburn Tollway, Chisholm Trail Parkway, Mountain Creek Lake Bridge, 360 Tollway, Lewisville Lake Toll Bridge, and the Addison Airport Toll Tunnel (7 Existing Roadways). Tolls are collected by a TollTag, which is an electronic transponder sticker placed on your car’s windshield. This device charges the toll to your NTTA account as you drive under the gantry for each section of the tolled road that you travel (8 TollTag). If you do not have a TollTag, you are a ZipCash customer. A picture is taken of your license plate as you drive through the gantry, and then a bill is mailed to your address (9 ZipCash). ZipCash users pay at least 50% more than TollTag users, who pay an average of 19 cents per mile. According to NTTA.org, “Toll rates adjust every year at 2.75 percent, compounded, and are reset in odd-numbered years” (10 Toll Rates). Effectively, tolls never end and are always increasing.
Not only are there dedicated tollways but there are also lanes on free highways that have been converted into toll lanes. These are called TEXpress lanes, which are enclosed express lanes with tolls that fluctuate “to prevent congestion” (11 How to Do TEXpress Lanes Work?). The price goes up during peak traffic times, which makes the TEXpress lanes less congested, but would make the free lanes more congested. TollTags can be used on TEXpress lanes, and the cost of driving on these repurposed lanes ranges from 15 to 35 cents per mile during non-peak hours, and from 45 to 90 cents during peak times. ZipCash customers are charged 50% to 90% higher rates compared to TollTag drivers (12 How Pricing Is Determined).
Toll fees and penalties have become ridiculous in Texas. Unintentional failure to pay tolls because of billing problems, such as expired credit cards, defective TollTags that result in a customer unknowingly paying the ZipCash price for months, and address changes, have caused much costly misery. One Texas driver received a bill from a collection agency for $7600 four years after the alleged violations had occurred, even though they had never gotten an original bill. Another person received a bill for $1000, and when he called to inquire about it, he was told that the bill was now $13,600. A man driving through Houston was fined $75 for a $1.26 toll, even though he had $40 in his TxTag account. Failure to pay toll bills could result in a car’s registration being blocked. Additionally, a person who does not show up for court dates for an unpaid bill or disputed fine could go to jail (15 Hall). A driver that repeatedly fails to pay ZipCash bills could be listed as a “Habitual Violator,” which would lead to fees, fines, being banned from North Texas toll roads, having his registration blocked, and his car possibly impounded (9 ZipCash). More than two million drivers have been put into collections for unpaid tolls by the Texas Department of Transportation alone, not counting the 13 other tolling agencies. Over $1 billion in fines and fees, over and above the actual tolls, has been levied by TxDOT. The Austin-area Texas Regional Mobility Authority has reported in 2012 that out of $100 million it collected, $85 million was fines and fees (17 Hall). Tolling authorities seem to be using Texas drivers as their own automatic teller machines.
Tolls affect people’s lives in important ways. Besides the horrific effect of fines and fees, the cost in money to use toll roads and in time to avoid them is considerable. For example, if I want to drive to my brother’s house in Southwest Arlington from my home in Prosper, the fastest more costly route would take three toll roads, cover 63.4 miles, and cost $8.11 in tolls with my TollTag, and it would take about an hour and 10 minutes. Driving a toll-free route would cover 69.6 miles and take about an hour and 30 minutes, which is 23% longer. And, of course, it would be the same numbers again for the trip home (14 Texas Toll Calculator). It is shameful and disheartening that it costs me over $16, plus gas, every time I want to go see my brother just across the metroplex. If a person commutes on a toll road, the monthly cost could be hundreds of dollars, but avoiding the toll roads would cost the commuter more frustrating hours in the car waiting at traffic lights, away from his family.
Toll roads affect communities. Since many people simply cannot afford to pay the high cost of driving on toll roads, they are forced to drive on secondary roads or feeder roads. This additional traffic that was not intended for these smaller roads results in congestion and accidents. Overcrowded local roads result in slower response times for police, firefighters, and emergency medical teams, which could mean needless loss of life. A mother with small children just trying to go grocery shopping is hindered by commuters and even commercial vehicles having to drive through her community because they are avoiding tolls. Heavy traffic on secondary roads causes road degradation and more expenses for local governments. Essentially, tolling passes highway funding problems down to the local level, while tolling authorities are rolling in cash (18 The Trouble With Tolls).
While it was initially a worthwhile idea to toll a road to pay for its construction, the situation has been greatly abused, and Texans are paying the price, literally. Tolling authorities and regional planners must be reined in and made accountable for skirting the law and fleecing the bank accounts of drivers unmercifully. Citizens must get involved and put pressure on legislators to pass the necessary laws to end tolling and, also, to pass consumer protections against the travesty of excessive fines and fees by instituting caps. Alternative ways of funding road construction and maintenance should be considered, such as stopping diversions of gas tax funds to education and pension funds. Gas taxes should only pay for building and maintaining roads. Texas roads should be for all Texans.
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