Posted on 11/10/2016 8:07:35 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - The Harris County Toll Road Authority collected about $760 million in tolls the last fiscal year, yet it is improbable that any Harris County toll road will ever be “paid off,” Channel 2 Investigates has learned.
“Not with system financing, which allows us to borrow money at a favorable rate to build new projects,” said Patti Evans, the authority’s assistant director of communications.
In other words, tolls collected today are not only used to pay down system-wide debt, but to construct more toll roads in the future.
“I think it is important to say — there are no free roads,” Evans said.
But Terri Hall, with the anti-tolling group Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, argued that not only are toll roads not free, in some cases, Texans are paying twice.
“It’s a double tax scheme,” Hall said.
A recent Texas Department of Transportation report to study the feasibility of removing Texas toll roads identifies road projects that were already paid for with tax dollars, and then set up as toll roads.
“The way they're doing it today, it is a tax,” Hall said. “It’s no longer a user fee, because they’re using your tax money to build the road and then they're charging you a toll, simply as gravy.”
The Toll Road Authority is adamant that it does not operate in this fashion — that new toll roads are constructed with system-wide toll-road proceeds and bond sales.
But the Toll Road Authority does have a toll road that is already “paid for.”
The Katy Managed Lanes, which can cost drivers $14 end-to-end, round-trip during peak times, do not carry long-term debt.
The lanes were constructed as part of a broader Interstate 10 widening project, a $2.8 billion project that was 91 percent funded with federal and state tax dollars.
But the Toll Road Authority did contribute.
“HCTRA contributed $250 million to further it along faster,” Evans said.
The investment is being recouped, Evans added, through the collection of tolls on the road, and she said the self-supporting Toll Road Authority system put its money back into Harris County infrastructure.
But it appears the state of Texas is slated to gain ownership of the Katy Managed Lanes, as part of the original agreement, and the bulk of the toll money collected from the Katy Managed Lanes could be headed to Austin.
The exact details of the agreement have not yet been finalized.
While the Harris County Toll Road Authority pools income and debt into a single system, the agency does break down exactly how much road makes for the system.
Maybe we need to introduce Texans to NJ and PA toll roads.
80 years old. Never been paid off...
Here in MA we’re now on our third time paying for the mass pike.
Hardy Toll Road opened in 1988 when I first moved there. It has to be paid off.
The citizens had to fight to eliminate the toll once the road was paid off, but they succeeded.
Yes, SOP with government. It's a tax.
Here in California, they built the SF/Oakland Bay Bridge with the promise that the tolls were temporary. They lied. Tolls increased, and long after the bridge was paid off, the tolls were used to build a half a dozen or more bridges, each with a toll that was simply a tax because they were already paid for with the Bay Bridge money. Promises are always broken, user fees are never temporary but are made permanent, and taxes are always increased. Tolls are used for non-bridge related items, such as ferry boat systems and buses, besides going in the general fund.
Even this article doesn’t tell it all. These days much of the toll road money goes to ‘community transportation projects’ in the City of Houston. The other half of it is that the most expensive parts of their toll roads (i.e., the complex interchanges) were fully financed with state money.
If the money trail ever got investigated, people would FREAK OUT at what’s being done to them.
They’re phasing out tollbooths in favor of windshield tags so you’re up a creek if you need to use in an emergency or get stuck on one of these roads accidentally. The rates are outrageous as well.
You need tolls because how are the toll booth people gonna get paid / libtard logic
I already pay road use taxes. Why would I want to pay for the same tax twice?
That is exactly why I have never been on a toll road.
They’re taking a page from Chicago’s playbook: the point of a toll road is that drivers pay the tolls forever.
The really frustrating part, is when they sold us the idea of the Beltway 8 toll road they initially told us once the road was paid off the road would become free and the tolls would go away.
Last year when they, once again, raised the tolls, those of us who were around for the original vote, yelled loudly about the increase and showed up at meetings to remind HCTRA and county commissioners about the original promise. However, they conveniently “forgot” the promise and told us we misunderstood the original vote.
The D/FW Turnpike between Dallas and Ft. Worth was converted from a toll road to I-30 back in the 70's. But, that's the only one in my memory where it happened. And, the highway is always in horrible shape.
The Dallas North Tollway has run from Downtown Dallas to I-635 for decades. It's probably "paid off", but it is still operated as a toll road, at rates that date back to the 70's. The tolls contribute to maintenance of the road, and it's always well-maintained.
That toll road has been expanded all the way past Frisco, enabling residential and commercial expansion in an area that was otherwise difficult to access. The road wouldn't have built in advance if it wasn't a toll road. And it's so popular they are adding lanes in Plano.
That's also true for the Bush tollway (named after Bush 41, not Bush 43). It runs east/west from Rockwall to the D/FW airport. It would have taken decades to build it, if they had to wait for the Texas Legislature to fund it, little by little. Instead, they built it as fast as possible, with the only real delay through an area with a lot of wetlands.
I have no problem with the tolls, as it means the people that actually use the road pay for it. With my Toll Tag, I get a discount on the tolls, and the tag works on every toll road in Texas.
Between two cars, we spend about $40 every 6 weeks. It's a reasonable price to pay for roads that wouldn't exist or would still be under construction.
Within 5 minutes of me, we have roads that have been under construction for YEARS. A friend nearly went out of business because the road in front of his shop took so long to be widened. The county got just enough money each year to keep the project going.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.