If your goal is to fleece your fellow americans as they travel through your state, while you guarantee that businesses that thrive along free roads stay away, then you're doing exactly the right thing. I'm sure the environmentalists and urban politicians love them because they prevent the evil "sprawl" (AKA Capitalism).
Someday you might want to drive along I44 as it crosses the Oklahoma border and goes from toll road to free. I'm sure it's just a coincidence, but right at that point is where development starts. Not just gas stations, but a full assortment of businesses and housing areas. Northeastern Oklahoma traversed by the toll road is virtually unchanged since it was built.
Go ahead Texas, copy Oklahoma. There will be even more reason to call your state "Baja Oklahoma".
Not a coincidence, because after crossing the border going into Missouri you soon reach the city of Joplin, and going west there isn't an exit for 17 miles after the OK/MO border until Miami. Same thing on the other end of I-44, Wichita Falls, TX is 20 miles closer to the border than Lawton, so the further one gets from WF, the more development drops off, until nearing Lawton well inside the border.
Perhaps you should drive Kilpatrick Turnpike as it loops around the OKC area from Edmonds to Yukon, with growth springing up along it the entire way now, including Quail Springs mall. And yes, the OKC area is growing, about a 12,000 person increase each year. Your thesis that toll roads stop growth just doesn't hold water.