Free Republic

HOUSTON - The teachers at Spring Forest Middle School asked KHOU 11's Verify team whether Beltway 8 has been paid off and if the tolls will ever go away in the foreseeable future. "Why do we still pay for toll roads?" wondered 7th grade teacher Rebecca Mustachio. "To be honest, I thought we would be done paying for toll roads." We are not even close to paying the bill for those roads, according to Roxana Sibrian of the Harris County Toll Road Authority. In a statement emailed to KHOU, the authority says it will be paying off construction debt until...

North Texas toll roads ignore safe engineering standards to allow the state to set up speed traps. Toll road operators in North Texas are ignoring state law by imposing arbitrary speed limits that are set far below the safest level suggested by engineering surveys. A WFAA-TV investigation discovered that the North Texas Tollway Authority set speed limits on portions of the Dallas North Tollway and all of the Bush Turnpike without performing the scientific studies required by state and federal law. "Statistics show that 85 percent of the people drive at a prudent and reasonable speed," Kelly Selman, TxDOT director...

After months of stalemates, state and regional leaders sat at the same table last week and officially hashed out many of their differences over the Trans-Texas Corridor and other planned toll roads. And in a moment of lighthearted symbolism, they shared a few doughnuts. I'll explain later. The Texas Transportation Commission, at its regular meeting Thursday in Austin, approved an agreement that lays out the future of at least six toll projects in North Texas. The agreement specifies which agency – the Transportation Department or the North Texas Tollway Authority – will build these toll roads: along State Highways 121...

North Texas leaders want a giant outer loop around the Metroplex for cars, trucks and trains, rather than allowing the state to build a toll road bypassing the area. The proposed loop could be about 200 miles long — nearly triple the length of the Capital Beltway in Washington — based upon conceptual drawings by the North Central Texas Council of Governments. Motorists who took the loop would likely pay tolls. It’s being pitched by North Texas leaders as an alternative to the Trans-Texas Corridor, a privately funded toll road that according to preliminary plans would steer automobile traffic well...

Regional planners are considering three Collin County routes as options for the state's proposed Trans-Texas Corridor, which would link Mexico to the Oklahoma border. The President George Bush Turnpike, Dallas North Tollway and the proposed Collin County Outer Loop are included on a Trans-Texas Corridor study conducted by the North Central Texas Council of Governments. The agency manages the Regional Transportation Council, which allocates federal transportation funds. The agency developed maps for potential auto, freight and rail traffic. The state will narrow study options for the corridor's future in the next few weeks. No decisions on narrowing potential paths for...