"Don't surprise me, fourth largest city in the nation - sure, captive audience, it's awesome," Malouf said. "It's actually more than $5 billion," we said. "Take a guess," we asked toll road driver Devon Pedrick. "This agency does take in a substantially amount of revenue," he replied. "These projects will more than pay for themselves, in fact, have money left over at the end," former County Judge Jon Lindsay said at the time. If you were watching Eyewitness News back in 1983, you heard a prediction that was right on. Look at H, a bunch of gobbygloop about bond stuff and then "a resolution for pooling of a list of toll road projects as component facilities." Translation: you're going to pay tolls forever. It happened in September 2001 at a Harris County Commissioners Court meeting, way down on the agenda. Did you? But leave it to politicians to welch on a deal. "It's one system, it's one system that funds all the needs out there," he said. "The construction of that road has been paid for 12 times?" we asked Harris County Toll Road Authority Director Peter Key. You know how much you've paid in tolls? $865 million. This stretch of the Sam Houston costs $72 million to build. "You sort of wonder what happened?" we asked another toll road driver. You've paid a total in tolls of $617 million. Toll road construction costs $287 million. We've already made back the money we paid to build the roads and then plenty more. "Well yeah, it does make you wonder well why they aren't free," one toll road driver said. Well, if you used the toll road today, you already know that didn't happen.īut the promise is there in black and white. "Well, you would think they'd take the toll booths away, right?" he replied. "What'd you think would happen when we paid the roads off?" we asked Sartis. The promise was simple: "When both roads combined have covered their costs, the roads will become free public highways." We found this brochure from the early days of the Toll Road Authority, printed just after we OKed building the West Belt and the Hardy Toll Road. "You feel scammed?" we asked toll road driver David Sartis. Seventy percent of you said OK, but all those cheering people.wonder if they'd be so excited today if they knew they had been scammed? Steve Malouf now pays close to $200 a month in tolls.īecause Steve knows what we found downtown inside a building that looks on the outside like it should be torn down newspaper accounts of the nasty political fight three decades ago over the idea of selling bonds to build toll roads. Of course, maybe that's because the girl band The Bangles were playing a live concert on top of the new highway. It's another morning drive to work, and before this day is over, half a million of you will pay a toll just to get where you need to go.ĭoesn't that make you feel like you want to cheer? Well, we really did cheer when the West Belt Tollway opened in 1989. Currently, there are 500 users in Texas as of August of this year.Ĭopyright 2020 by KPRC Click2Houston - All rights reserved.The next time a politician asks you to vote on something, you might want to get all the fine print in writing. This phone app is a quick sign-up and you can use it on every toll road in Texas, California and Florida. Traveling from Cypress, Texas to KPRC 2 on 8181 Southwest Fwy, Houston, TX 77074 you’ll end up paying: $3.50 plus 15% with a transaction fee: roughly $4.00 And, the app’s Trip Calculator makes it convenient to budget for trips. The technology lets drivers manage their account all in one place, without the headaches associated with toll prices, mischarges or mailed toll bills. ![]() There is also a 15% transaction fee every time a toll is paid. Subscribers who don’t already have a toll payment account will receive toll discounts, but there is a small membership fee to get this perk. The technology is user-friendly and drivers can easily sign up on the app, then use their mobile devices to pay as they go on most toll roads and bridges, like the Sam Houston Tollway and the Hardy Toll Road. Uproad’s Andrew Peppard is based in Texas and to KPRC 2 about the benefits of this technology and how it can ease the stress of navigating toll roads. ![]() Drivers can now use their mobile devices on toll roads and bridges in the state, as more people take to the roads versus air due to coronavirus during this busy summer travel season. The green light has been given to Uproad, an app that allows drivers to pay tolls using new technology that eliminates the need for a transponder, the sticker on your windshield. HOUSTON – Texas drivers can now ditch those toll stickers on their windshields and opt-in on a new toll app to pay their fees.
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