Timeline: How tolls spread in Texas
Texas is a now a national leader in miles of toll roads, ranking only behind Florida. Here’s how it revved up
From 2001 to 2021, Texas built more toll roads than nearly all other states combined.
Here are some highlights of its long history with tollways:
Millions of Texans rely on toll roads daily in a state that has built more paid thoroughfares over the past two decades than almost all U.S. states combined. The affordability, safety and management of these roads impact us all, especially as some leaders admit more are likely coming to handle substantial growth throughout the state and in North Texas.
1953 — The Texas Legislature creates an independent entity with statewide authority to construct toll roads and bridges, the Texas Turnpike Authority.
1957 — The first toll road in the state, the Dallas/Fort Worth Turnpike, opens in North Texas on what is now known as Interstate 30. The tollway directly connects downtown Fort Worth and downtown Dallas.
1968 — The Dallas North Tollway opens in North Texas, connecting downtown Dallas to Collin County and northern Dallas to Denton County.
1977 — Tolls on the former Dallas/Fort Worth Turnpike are removed and the road is designated Interstate 30.
1983 — Harris County Toll Road Authority opens for business after voters approve $900 million in bonds to build and maintain toll roads.
1996 — Southern California unveils the first set of “managed lanes” in the U.S. along a stretch of highway known as State Route 91. The toll lanes are built in the middle of a free road and are open to anyone who is willing to pay the fees, which can change based on the amount of congestion on the free lanes.
1997 — The North Texas Tollway Authority is created.
1998 — President George Bush Tollway, operated and maintained by the NTTA, opens between Preston and Midway. Today, it is a 52-mile toll road that forms a sweeping arch across the eastern half of the Dallas-Fort Worth region.
2001 — Criminal penalties for failure to pay required toll or administrative fees become the law in Texas.
2003 — Texas enacts new laws that allow private entities to design, build, operate and finance toll roads and revenue-producing rail systems. The Texas Transportation Commission is authorized to create regional mobility authorities that can build tollways and allow counties to construct and maintain toll road projects under certain conditions.
2003 — The Northeast Texas Regional Mobility Authority opens in Smith and Gregg counties and expands to more counties over the next several years.
2004 — Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority opens in South Texas. Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority opens its first toll road, the Fort Bend Parkway.
2005 — A private tollway operator unveils a proposal to develop the TTC-35 High Priority Trans-Texas Corridor, according to TxDOT. The idea, touted by then-Gov. Rick Perry, involved the construction of a 4,000-mile network of toll roads, railroad tracks, pipelines and utility lines that would stretch across the state. The estimated cost was $175 billion for a project that would take 50 years to complete.
2007 — A consortium led by Cintra begins construction of State Highway 130 in Central Texas, a 100% privately financed toll road project. This is the first comprehensive development agreement signed in Texas, known as a concession, in which a private sector company can develop, finance, construct, operate and maintain a facility for a specific period of time, up to 52 years. The developer collects tolls during the life of the agreement. The project results in a bankruptcy in 2014 and the toll road project’s financing is restructured under new ownership. Creditors blame the failure on overly optimistic financial forecasts.
2007 – State Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, files a pair of bills aimed at placing a two-year moratorium on road construction contracts with private companies. “We must closely evaluate private toll contracts before we sign away half a century of control of our transportation system,” he wrote at the time. Nichols recommended that the state require the developers to ensure toll rates remain reasonable and establish a formula to determine cost should the state need to terminate the contracts early.
2007 — Concerns from some members of Congress are sent to governors of all 50 states warning that rampant construction of private toll roads operated by private companies could fragment an integrated transportation system and prove a disservice to taxpayers. A key concern is that noncompete clauses make it extremely difficult if not impossible for public transportation agencies to address safety and congestion problems on highways and streets adjacent to private roads.
2007 — TxDOT’s Keep Texas Moving campaign comes under public attack after spending $9 million in state highway funds on a public relations campaign to build more toll roads. Opponents question TxDOT’s decision to partner with private companies to build toll roads.
2007 — Texans for Public Justice, an Austin-based watchdog group, finds that lobbyists spent thousands of dollars sending Texas transportation officials to events related to public-private financing of toll roads as the state prepares to launch $7 billion worth of new toll road projects. The lobbyists also paid travel expenses for 83 Texas lawmakers and transportation officials on 383 occasions between January 2005 and November 2006, according to TPJ. Many of the lawmakers worked in transportation-related departments or on legislation involving highways and toll roads.
2008 — The NTTA assumes responsibility for operations, maintenance and construction of State Highway 121, known as the Sam Rayburn Tollway, a 26-mile corridor through the cities of Allen, Carrollton, Fairview, Frisco, Lewisville, McKinney, Plano and The Colony.
2008 — Texas Department of Transportation officials begin to hold a series of hearings seeking public input to answer questions about the Trans-Texas Corridor project.
2008 — Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank based in Southern California, awards then-Gov. Rick Perry a recognition for his introduction of private-sector tolls in Texas. Perry is noted as an innovator for his work in developing solutions to cope with growing infrastructure and traffic problems.
2008 — TxDOT is bombarded with criticism over Perry and toll its policies. The state Legislature places a two-year moratorium on long-term toll road agreements.
2009 — TxDOT signs a contract — executed as a comprehensive development agreement — to build the tollway known as North Tarrant Express in Fort Worth. These are segments that include Interstate 820 from Mark IV Parkway to State Highway 121/State Highway 183 and Highways 121 and 183 from I-820 and FM 157.
2009 — TxDOT enters into a $2 billion contract to construct a toll road on Interstate 635 known as LBJ Express Dallas from east of Luna Road to east of U.S. Highway 75 (near Greenville Avenue).
2011 — Regional mobility authorities are given the power to borrow money or enter into loan agreements or similar arrangements with any public or private entity.
2012 — Optional remedies for the nonpayment of tolls and administrative fees are introduced.
2013 — The Texas Transportation Commission creates the Grand Parkway Transportation Corporation, a nonprofit Texas corporation, to finance a certain segment of State Highway 99, known as the Grand Parkway System.
2013 — TxDOT enters into a $2 billion contract to expand the North Tarrant Express. It involves Interstate 35W from Interstate 30 to just north of Interstate 820, I-35W from just north of I-820 to just north of U.S. Highway 287 and I-35W from just north of U.S. 287 to Eagle Parkway.
2016 — TxDOT enters into an $800 million contract with a private company to build toll lanes from U.S. Highway 59 to the Harris County line within the median of State Highway 288.
2019 — A new bill signed into law requires toll operators to disclose certain financial information, including revenues and expenses and capital plans over several years after construction and design costs.
2024 — The Texas Transportation Commission votes unanimously to begin the process of ending its agreement with the private company that built toll lanes in Harris County within the median of State Highway 288.
(Sources: Texas A&M Transportation Institute, American Council of Engineering Companies of Texas, Texas Department of Transportation, Transportation Funding in Texas 2023 edition, U.S. Department of Transportation, NTTA Annual Summary Report, NTTA “Driven to Serve” 2011 annual summary report, news articles, 1997 to 2024.)