Toll Roads Remain Hot-Button Topic
by Peter Partheymuller
The Texas Legislature last year requested the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) prepare a report looking into the possibility of removing tolls from roads throughout the state. Transportation officials spoke at a Texas House Transportation Committee this week to update members on the report’s progress.
The primary fact to take away from the hearing is that it would cost about $40 billion to convert almost all of the state’s tolled highways to tax-supported roadways. The conclusion that follows from that fact is that is not going to happen any time soon.
Nor was it meant to happen, in reality. Legislators wanted to research the issue and discover where it would be feasible to remove tolls.
“I don’t have a particular agenda,” Transportation Committee Chairman Rep. Joe Pickett said. “I wouldn’t necessarily say, ‘No more tolls forever.’”
But cities and regional authorities throughout the state have been building toll roads for many years, primarily due to a lack of funding coming out of the legislature. Toll roads are in place throughout the state, many operated by public-private partnerships. That’s begun to change in recent years, however, and the idea behind the report is to determine if it’s changed enough to avoid charging Texas drivers every time they use their cars.
“Let’s find a way we can start telling the public, when we come up with support or different monies, that we can do away with some of them,” Pickett said.
Committee member Rep. Celia Israel is trying to accomplish just that. Israel represents part of Austin, home to I-35 and its notorious traffic problems. Pickett has raised the question of converting a parallel stretch of SH 130 and SH 45 SE, built as tolled highways, into free roadways. The state conducted an experiment in 2013 in which it offered discounted tolls to 18-wheeler trucks, hoping to remove those vehicles from the section of the roadway through the heart of the city.
Israel requested the state commence the toll discount once again, and the Texas Transportation Commission approved yesterday a move to do so. The experiment will commence in two phases. Currently, vehicles with more than four axles traveling between Georgetown and Buda pay three times the rate most other cars and trucks pay ($24.12 versus $8.04 for the entire 56-mile stretch of highway).
During the first phase of the discount, those trucks will pay twice the regular amount, or $16.08. The second phase will run from Nov. 1 through Aug. 31, 2017, during which time all vehicles will pay the same rate of $8.04.
“By getting some of these big rigs to use SH 130, during peak hours, we will help ease some of the gridlock we see on I-35 through Austin,” said TxDOT Executive Director James Bass. “This will get drivers to their destinations quicker by saving them time that otherwise would be spent in traffic.”
“While this item is not a silver bullet, it is one more tool to increase mobility in our urban core,” said Israel. “Funding a program to reduce the tolls on the TxDOT portions of SH 130 and SH 45 SE for truck traffic represents a concrete action to improve congestion without actually requiring more concrete.”
The legislature allotted $18.7 million over two years to pay for the discount. The completed report is due to legislators Sept. 1.
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This article originally published by Strategic Partnerships Inc.
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