Is that why Houston has something of a seemingly similar ring-road scheme of both toll and non-toll roads?
If so, it’s horrible.
No, Houston’s tollroads were partially an earlier experiment that didn’t work and partly the result of finding out they couldn’t expand the non-toll ring roads due to the nature of the ground they were built on. They had to make a separate ring road to add capacity and since they had no money in the budget to create it, it ended up a toll road.
“Is that why Houston has something of a seemingly similar ring-road scheme of both toll and non-toll roads? If so, it’s horrible.”
Since I live in Houston, I’m quite familiar. The toll roads, of course, were sold to Harris Country residents with the promise to end tolling once paid off. Of course that was a lie.
At this point, they collect so much money (yet are still priced way below monopoly rates) that the county now sends their excess money to the city of Houston to ‘pay’ for their streets (meaning the city now gets to use their property tax money to serve their ‘friends’ elsewhere). They could have simply lowered the cost to drive on these roads...but the tolling they have brings in billions, why mess with it.
...and even given that, it could be much worse. They’ve spent the past decade massively widening Route 8 with toll money - due to huge congestion (on the West and South sides). If the road was privately owned, at least if I were making the decisions, I would have simply doubled the tolls - same result, reduced traffic jams. Fortunately there is still some level of accountability on this highway precisely because it is NOT privately owned.
You are correct, it is horrible but what I don’t see are the non-toll ring roads. Unless that is you are referring to the “surface streets” along the toll roads that are almost constantly jammed worse than the toll roads, often flooded and are full of stop lights. Some alternative that.
The only thing I will give the toll roads is speed of construction. Getting the cash flow started is a massive motivation for speed of construction. The NW section of 99 seemed like it sprung up almost overnight.f
You will NEVER see any state project go that fast.