“Sounds not unlike the Mass Pike, which was supposed to have been made free decades ago, when the original bonds were sold off.”
Yep. But believe it or not, Kentucky was the ONE STATE that actually kept its word, and about 7 years ago the booths were removed from the final toll road. I still have an atlas from 1985 and the state was covered with them (something some people here salivate for, for yet unknown reasons).
Ahem. You missed one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_30
“The Dallas–Fort Worth Turnpike was a 30-mile (48 km) toll highway in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. It operated between 1957 and 1977, afterward becoming a nondescript part of I-30. The road, three lanes in each direction but later widened, is the only direct connection between downtown Fort Worth and downtown Dallas, Texas. -snip-
The proposed expressway was studied as early as 1944, but was turned down by the state engineer due to the expense. However, in 1953, the state legislature created the Texas Turnpike Authority, which in 1955 raised $58.5 million (equivalent to $1.27 billion in 2015) to build the project. Construction started later that year. On August 27, 1957, the highway was open to traffic, but the official opening came a week later on September 5. The turnpike’s presence stimulated growth in Arlington and Grand Prairie and facilitated construction of Six Flags Over Texas. On December 31, 1977, the bonds were paid off and the freeway was handed over to the state Department of Transportation, toll collection ceased, and the tollbooths were removed during the following week.”
The article doesn’t mention that the Feds also didn’t see the point of what would become the Dallas Fort Worth Turnpike and refused to fund it, which is why the state engineer also turned it down. People with more of a clue said, “Okay, we’ll build it as a tollway instead.”
Seems to have worked out really well - I-30 is a massive thoroughfare in DFW now and the area would long ago have gridlocked without it.