Houston19514 Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 It's been several years since I was last on any Austin-area toll roads, but at the time I didn't think the bill-by-plate fee was all that onerous. I didn't have a TXTag and was happy to pay the extra 50 cents or whatever it was, given how infrequently I was traveling to Austin on business. I definitely agree that Harris County needs to get with the program and implement a similar bill-by-plate system. I'd also like to see tags that attach to the license plate. I really dislike having yet another large, unsightly tag permanently affixed to my windshield. You can get a license plate tag from HCTRA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 I think what this topic is about is the westchase toll plaza being such a dated eyesore. Why do the unused northeast belt get all the fancy ones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 I think what this topic is about is the westchase toll plaza being such a dated eyesore. Why do the unused northeast belt get all the fancy ones?You say dated eyesore, I say historic icon that contributes to our collective history! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 Basically the entire core of the Austin metro area has free freeways except a short stretch of 290. "they're all tolls".... The Dallas North Tollway a pre-1960s parkway? Not even to freeway standards? You should visit these places more than once. Geez, I already admitted that the "they're all tollways" was hyperbole, but I still think that it's vastly underdeveloped. Many of their freeways that they do have weren't freeways 10-15 years ago. The Dallas North Tollway was definitely weird and unlike any freeways I have seen in Texas. No inner shoulder, lined with trees, the outer shoulder completely disappeared in merging lanes, tight right of way? At least it was straight enough and not curvy like old parkways usually are. As for the root cause of our argument, I won't convince you or vice versa, though I'll be sure to make it a note of it when I go on the Beltway next during peak hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 You say dated eyesore, I say historic icon that contributes to our collective history!It does look like the architect of the GRB and the IAH terminal designed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADCS Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 The Dallas North Tollway was definitely weird and unlike any freeways I have seen in Texas. No inner shoulder, lined with trees, the outer shoulder completely disappeared in merging lanes, tight right of way? At least it was straight enough and not curvy like old parkways usually are. That's just it - they managed to cram a six-lane freeway into an extremely tight right-of-way. That's impressive no matter how you look at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted September 17, 2015 Share Posted September 17, 2015 I always assumed they made more money off of the toll tags than cash customers. That is because they keep the Texas tag accounts topped up in $20 increments, so they must always have a large balance sitting around on which the state, not the driver is earning interest.No I get that, I wasn't that specific; I meant on a yearly basis or to-date from the introduction of the EZ-tag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted September 17, 2015 Share Posted September 17, 2015 The Dallas North Tollway was definitely weird and unlike any freeways I have seen in Texas. No inner shoulder, lined with trees, the outer shoulder completely disappeared in merging lanes, tight right of way? At least it was straight enough and not curvy like old parkways usually are. The part of the Dallas North Tollway that's south of LBJ is pretty danged old, and generally hasn't been updated to modern standards. If you think that's a trip, you should have seen Central before it got completely redone. In particular, the cloverleaf at Northwest Highway was a Merge of Death that made the Allen Parkway ramp onto southbound 45 look downright roomy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkultra25 Posted September 17, 2015 Share Posted September 17, 2015 You can get a license plate tag from HCTRA. Didn't realize that, but I see it now on their website. Looks like there are quite a few car models that have known problems with the window-mounted tags not being readable. Even better, it looks like the plate-mounted tags don't require a completely unobstructed line of sight to work - I found a couple of references to people affixing them inside the grille out of sight, and they apparently work just fine there. Good to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DNAguy Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 Since we're going to one tag for registration and inspection, why not incorporate a toll-tag with it and have a TRUE one tag system? This may be off topic as well, but I don't see the reason why HCTRA still exists when the state can now build toll roads. Remember, HCTRA was created b/c the state was constitutionally prohibited from building tollroads at the time and a local tolling authority was nice solution for getting roads faster and having local control of that. Wouldn't it be better for everyone now to have TxDOT absorb all local tolling authorities while also devolving tolling authority to their regional districts? It could eliminate bureaucracy, eliminate the 'competition' between dueling tolling authorities (The Houston area has 5 different tolling authorities now - Fort bend, Harris, Montgomery, Brazoria -even though there's no toll roads there yet, and TxDOT), as well as making highway planning more streamlined and coherent. IDK. Sorry to get off topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 OK, I tested the theory again proposed in the first page topic. Me: Passenger seat in North Beltway Rush Hour. Observed the EZTag traffic slowing to a stop while coin traffic zipped by. However, by tracking the make and model of car, when you finally got up to the toll booth, you zip through while they're still stuck, so any time "gained" by getting in the coin lane is lost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 So will this increase the GDP by 1%? http://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2016/01/07/133213/ship-channel-toll-bridge-is-about-to-convert-to-all-electronic-tolling-2/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 So will this increase the GDP by 1%? http://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2016/01/07/133213/ship-channel-toll-bridge-is-about-to-convert-to-all-electronic-tolling-2/ No, but it's going to suck if you need to use the bridge while the work is being done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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