HCTRA instituted hands-free tolling (and closed all the cash lanes) on the Sam Houston Tollway at the start of the pandemic in March 2020. As of today (12 Dec 2021) at the plaza nearest my house, just north of Westheimer, traffic is restricted to 3 EZTag lanes and one lane on the far right for those just entering the highway. Traffic backs up in both directions for most of every workday due to this restriction. I've not seen anything about when (or whether) they plan to open the closed lanes. I don't know the economics of it, but it would be great if they could just take out the tollbooths and go on using the pay by mail/EZ Tag system they've been using for the past 18 months. It would be nice to get some relief from these ongoing bottlenecks.