You remember it correctly. But the fight was extensive and the state had to threaten the DFW toll authority with a suit before they finally abandoned the tollway. I was living in the area at the time.
However, the DFW tollway is the exception, not the rule. For the rule, look at the Dallas North tollway which has been around since Jesus was in elementary school and has little likelihood of EVER going bye-bye.
You all remember when Obama said the business people didn't build the roads they use, right? He was totally wrong ~ might be the case that the federal government built the roads in Hawaii, but private interests built virtually all the early roads in the Midwest ~ the government had nothing to do with it.
A concept called 'demurrage' is commonly understood as an extra fee for detaining a box car on a rail siding ~ but it's more easily understood as a toll for directing a box car from it's normal regulated freight track to a privately owned siding. Just in case someone is going to tell me the railroads don't charge tolls ~ but, of course they do.
Toll roads ~ steel, corduroy, brick and gravel BUILT AMERICA, and for the most part, most of the toll roads were paid for.