Lifestyle

Will These Texas Toll Roads Ever Be ‘Paid Off’?

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Tony Maples Photography

 

Click2Houston investigated something many Texans ask themselves when driving through a toll: “Where is the money I’m paying for this toll road going?”

The Harris County Toll Road Authority began in 1983 after Houston put $900 million into the structuring of new roads to help connect the big Texas city. Anyone who has driven through the area on any of the toll roads knows the big purple EZ TAG sign hanging over the road at pay stations where drivers must pay anywhere from $1 – $5, depending on where they are.

Channel 2 News has learned that none of these roads, like the West Park Tollway, Hardy Toll Road, Sam Houston Tollway, will ever be “paid off.” Some officials say the money is going to go to new roads, and there’s no such thing as a “free”way anymore. But Terri Hall with Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom says that Texans are actually paying for the same road twice.

“The way they’re doing it today, it is a tax. It’s no longer a user fee, because they’re using your tax money to build the road and then they’re charging you a toll, simply as gravy,” Hall told the news. TxDOT denies this, but more on the report can be read here.