A recently reposted vintage clip of a 1975 WFAA report on the Dallas North Tollway led to a flood of angry comments online. The reason for the ire stems from a single line from reporter Jane Horwitz.
“They predict the tollway will be paid off by the year 2005. So thirty years from now, we can all look forward to a free ride on what will be the old North Dallas Tollway.”
Obviously, that did not happen and the DNT is not free. Those commenting on the story begged to know why while others made claims about who owns the toll system, the politics behind the toll system’s management and other accusations.
We looked into a few common questions and claims about the tolls in North Texas.
CLAIM: “The Dallas North Tollway was supposed to become free after it was paid off.”
While it was the initial plan of the old Texas Turnpike Authority to remove the toll booths on the DNT in 2005, the North Texas Tollway Authority was created by the Texas Legislature in 1997 and acquired the tollway and its debt. Since that time, the DNT has been extended multiple times and other toll roads such as the Sam Rayburn Tollway and President George Bush Turnpike were added to the NTTA system.
Your tolls pay for the systems operation and maintenance, debt repayment and the system’s capital plan.
Current debt payoff is scheduled for 2048 and that is only if no more projects are added.
CLAIM: “A foreign company actually owns NTTA.”
The NTTA is not privately or foreign-owned.
It is a not-for-profit government entity. However, the claim it is foreign owned is likely confusing the NTTA tollways with the TEXPress lanes that run alongside major interstates and allow drivers to take the tolled, and usually faster moving, lanes during times of congestion.
The TEXPress lanes are operated by the Texas Department of Transportation and are a public-private partnership involving some foreign developers and investors such as Cintra, a private infrastructure company based in Spain.
Even though you can use your NTTA TollTag for the TEXPress lanes to make for easier billing, NTTA does not manage TEXPress lanes.
CLAIM: “Gov. Greg Abbott appoints NTTA board members.”
NTTA’s board of directors has nine members. Dallas, Tarrant, Collin and Denton Counties all appoint two members each while Abbott appoints one member from a county adjacent to the four-county service area.
Board members do not receive a salary for their service on the NTTA board.
CLAIM: “NTTA profits from fines and can block vehicle registration.”
According to Texas Transportation Code Chapter 372.106, a driver who incurs 100 or more unpaid tolls within a rolling year and who has been issued at least two nonpayment notices is subject to:
Assessment of all ZipCash tolls due plus all applicable late fees
A vehicle registration block
An order prohibiting the operation of a vehicle owned by a habitual toll violator on NTTA toll roads
A citation for failure to pay a toll – Class C misdemeanor
Vehicle impoundment upon proof of repeated violation of the order of prohibition
NTTA says aside from receiving a fee for service, tax assessor-collectors do not “make money” off of fees.