![]() ![]() Mike Stone, the chief operating officer of the Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority and the Fort Bend Grand Parkway Toll Road Authority explained the increase by email. The Fort Bend Grand Parkway Toll Road Authority (the County) manages the portion of the Grand Parkway within Fort Bend County. This means all 2-axle vehicles will pay 1 penny more on the Fort Bend Parkway and 2 cents more at each toll booth on the Westpark Tollway. Because the CPI was 5.3%, Fort Bend County Commissioners voted to pass a smaller increase of just over 3%. When the Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority was established, its rules stated that they are required to raised rates every year- by 2% or the same rate of the Consumer Price Index for our area. The toll lanes on State Highway 249 in Montgomery County went from $1.28 to $1.31 and from $0.51 to $0.52. Fort Bend and Montgomery County Toll Road rates And they don’t plan on having one this year. The Harris County Toll Road Authority that manages the Sam Houston Tollway, Hardy Toll Road, the Westpark Tollway, the Tomball Tollway, and the Fort Bend County Extension said they haven’t had a toll increase since September 2015. (Copyright 2020 by KPRC Click2Houston - All rights reserved.) Harris County Toll Road rates KPRC 2 Investigates toll road rate increases around the Houston area. Hanks said that the state’s contract with BTG stipulates that once the rates reach that cap, they can only be increased further if traffic gets so bad on the 288 Expressway that cars can not drive greater than 45 miles an hour. It is, by far, the most expensive toll road in our area. They are now at that maximum allowed rate. The Brazoria County engineer explained that TxDOT put a cap on tolls in its contract with BTG, not allowing Blueridge to charge more than $1.06 per mile ($0.75 by 2012 standards). “The good news is we do believe the toll rate increase in the Harris county section will slow, moving forward,” said Hanks. In light of the first year being an adjustment year - due to project ramp up, changes in traffic patterns, and the effects of COVID, we did see fluctuations in rates throughout the year.” 288 Expressway rate increases expected to stop Rate updates considers historic and future traffic behavior taking special events and other seasonal changes into account. 1st- more than a 40% increase? No other toll road authority in the greater Houston area increased rates more than 6%.Įdwards: “Express Lane rates fluctuate to manage demand during a specific time-of-day and day-of-the-week. KPRC 2 Amy Davis: What is the reason the Blueridge Transportation Group raised rates so sharply on Jan. ![]() Rates are reviewed monthly, per our agreement with the state.Ģ021 was the first year of operations of the toll lanes and there were frequent rate adjustments to accommodate the traffic in the new corridor.” KPRC 2 Amy Davis : Can you please tell me about every toll increase that has taken effect on the SH 288 Express Toll Lanes since they opened?Įdwards: “BTG constructed the SH 288 Express Lanes as a safe and convenient travel alternative to the general-purpose lanes. BTG public information officer Raynese Edwards declined our request for an interview and sent these answers to our questions instead: KPRC 2 Investigates asked why it raised rates so sharply and so often in less than two years. Why have there been so many toll road increases?īlueridge Transportation Group has raised rates on he 288 Expressway seven times since it opened in November 2020. “We had to really think, ‘Is this the right thing to do? Is it the fair thing to do?’ You know, we put all those things into account,” said Hanks. They only raised rates once since the road opened in 2020 by $0.85. ![]() “I don’t really feel that the price increase was fair,” said Lundgren.Īnd neither did the Brazoria County Toll Road Authority. Today, driving the route during the same peak time is 86% more at $11.51. Traveling the entire 10 miles during rush-hour in November 2020 would have cost you $5.10. TxDOT contracted with a private company called Blueridge Transportation group to manage the 10-mile stretch. The 10-mile section inside Harris County is owned and operated by the Texas Department of Transportation. And the county had to explain that the Brazoria County Toll Road Authority only manages the 5-mile section of the 288-Expressway inside Brazoria County. Toll road increase on 288 Expresswayīrazoria County engineer Matt Hanks said a lot of people were upset. “We got a lot of feedback from citizens, a lot of them concerned,” said Brazoria County engineer Matt Hanks. Viewer Kimberly Lundgren was shocked to discover a huge increase in tolls for her daily commute. ![]()
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