<\/p>\n
Vehicles pass through a toll gate on Tomball Parkway, also known as Texas 249, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023.<\/p>\n
Jason Fochtman\/Staff photographer<\/p>\n
Drivers in the Houston region will pay more to use some toll roads in 2026.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Harris County Toll Road Authority<\/a> provides toll tag account management and customer service to toll road portions in Montgomery, Fort Bend and Brazoria counties through interlocal agreements.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The annual adjustment is triggered by a county\u2019s Toll Rate Order, which requires tolls to rise by at least 2% or match federal inflation figures for the Houston region, whichever is higher, according to documents from Montgomery, Fort Bend and\u00a0Brazoria counties.\u00a0Inflation rose 1.1% this year, prompting the minimum 2% hike.<\/p>\n While the rate increase is built in to the agreement, county commissioners still have to approve the new rates each year.<\/a><\/p>\n ARRESTED:Conroe municipal judge arrested, accused of driving while intoxicated and unlawful carrying of a weapon<\/a><\/p>\n The rate increases range from a penny to about 20 cents for the Texas 249 Tollway <\/a>in Montgomery County, the Westpark Tollway<\/a> in Fort Bend County and the 288 Expressway<\/a> in Brazoria County. The rates are based on the number of axles and the time of day.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The new rates will be effective Jan. 1.<\/p>\n Texas 249 Tollway<\/p>\n The Texas 249 Toll Road, which runs from the Spring Creek bridge to Pinehurst will see rate increases ranging from .1 cent to .20 cents, depending on number of axles.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n For 2-axle vehicles \u2014 which includes most standard passenger cars \u2014 the new rates will be:<\/p>\n Decker Plaza Mainlane northbound and southbound Passthrough<\/p>\n Increasing from $1.54 to $1.57<\/p>\n Hardin Store Road northbound and southbound Entrance<\/p>\n Increasing from 61 cents to 62 cents.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Hardin Store Road northbound exit<\/p>\n Increasing from 61 cents to 62 cents.<\/p>\n 288 Expressway \u2013 Brazoria County<\/p>\n Croix Mainlane northbound and southbound, EZ Tag only<\/p>\n Increasing from $1.09 to $1.15<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n McHard\u00a0Mainlane northbound and southbound,\u00a0EZ Tag only<\/p>\n Increasing from $1.86 to $1.96<\/p>\n Westpark Tollway<\/p>\n FM 1463 Plaza<\/p>\n Increasing from 82 cents to 84 cents<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n County-managed stretch of Grand Parkway\u00a0<\/p>\n Increasing from 46 cents to 47 cents\u00a0<\/p>\n Fort Bend Parkway\u00a0<\/p>\n Fondren Plaza toll will increase from 75 cents to 77 cents\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n ‘No issue’ with rate hikes, resident says<\/p>\n Steve Wischoff, a resident of Cinco Ranch in Katy, said he had \u201cno issue\u201d with the rate hikes for toll roads.<\/p>\n \u201cWe who travel those roads want adequate funding to keep them in tip-top condition with smooth pavement, up-to-date signage, good road striping,\u201d Wischoff said. \u201cSince the tollways are relatively new and require minimal maintenance, hopefully the rate increases can be placed in a \u201cRainy Day Fund\u201d for later use when expanded maintenance service is required.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Additionally, Wischoff said that, if permitted, some of the funds should increase law enforcement presence along the roadway.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a need for there to be a deterrent to get speeders\u2019 attention, especially on Westpark when traffic is light,\u201d Wischoff said. \u201cSpeeds of 85 are not uncommon – 20 more than the posted 65 limit. Motorcyclists\u2019 speeds can be even higher.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vehicles pass through a toll gate on Tomball Parkway, also known as Texas 249, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[41346,56,58,57],"class_list":{"0":"post-86356","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-conroecp","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-houston-headlines","11":"tag-houston-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}