schmellba99 said:

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HTownAg98 said:

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JBAG064 said:

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Aren't the taxes we pay enough to have roads provided?

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It's nowhere close. Growth has outpaced our gas tax receipts, and TxDOT is way, way behind on building roads that are needed.

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It would be a lot closer if it wasn't continually raided for non transportation needs.

Also doesn't help that EV's don't pay the tax to use and fund the roads like everybody else does on non toll roads. And they impart more wear and tear than an ICE vehicle of comparable size does too.

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This isn't accurate. EV owners pay a $200 fee at registration to replace the gas taxes we don't pay.

How are toll roads a scam? Don't think that was ever answered.

JBAG064 said:

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Aren't the taxes we pay enough to have roads provided?

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Actually, no. Unless you live in Delaware, Montana, or New Jersey.

AlaskanAg99 said:

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Theres a lot of confusion over "roads" in general.

LOCAL roads are paid for by the jurisdiction you live in, cities or unincorporated county. These are the surface streets you use around neighborhoods and in the city. Paid by your local city/county tax.

STATE roads are usually higher volume and higher speed. Usually these are denoted as highways (such as HWay 6 in Houston).

Federal roads are the Interstate system. Usually have an "I" before them, I10, I45 etc...

Each pulls from a different revenue source and can get muddy when joint projects are being done in order to pool resources or to get work done sooner as the Feds will farm out work to state entities.

Toll Roads are another beast entirely. Usually private roads oaid for and financed by private groups but maintained after construction by local government such as HCTRA. A very common tactic is to refinance the debt which resets the payoff date, thus these roads can be toll roads forever. However. As interest rates rise, the justification of this becomes difficult.

Now for some fun facts, HCTRA has a "surplus" annually after M&O and CIP is taken into account. Local commissioners can only spend these funds on "mobilitiy" projects and that becomes a gray area. So a lot of sidewalks are being built that tie into the toll roads. It's a real stretch. Now the fun part is at the State, there's a bill in consideration that the City of Houston wants a chunk of the surplus where it will go into their general fund. Theres a lot of debate at commissioners court and animosity between the entire court and Whitmeyer.

The real question is if they're running a 300M surplus, they're overcharging on the tolls themselves. If the state passes the law I wouldn't be surprised if court lowers toll rates just to stick it to Houston.

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This is why I say, dfw tolls - generally ok, Houston - f'in scams

Beltway 8 is my favorite road in Texas. Big, beautiful, well maintained, relatively cheap per mile. It's a civil engineering masterpiece.

Grandparkway is too expensive, although it will improve relatively overtime.

288 toll is the most insanely expensive toll road in Houston. I really don't know why it's so expensive.

Anyway, I have a love hate relationship with toll roads in general but I think a lot of you are being pretty naive. They are the backbone of economic growth. Houston has the best super highway system in the world and it wouldn't be possible without the financing provided by toll roads.

Teslag said:

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Funky Winkerbean said:

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Teslag said:

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Waffledynamics said:

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Don't worry! The tolls will go away after it's paid off.

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They did for I-30

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Republicans in charge of?

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Democrats

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Wait that's when a "democrat" was FAR different than it is today