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Follow TURFThe State Highway 288 toll lanes were part of a public-private partnership agreement that was originally set to last 50 years.
Brandon Waltens | July 26, 2024 l Texas Scorecard
Updated with comment from TxDOT on 7/29
The Texas Department of Transportation is contemplating the purchase of a Houston-area toll road from a private developer, with potential plans to maintain the tolls for Texans.
This unique arrangement involves terminating an existing agreement this October, spending nearly $1.7 billion to acquire the already-built toll lanes on Highway 288, and taking over its management and operations.
The toll lanes were part of a public-private partnership agreement with Blueridge Transportation Group that was originally set to last 50 years.
Members of the Texas Transportation Commission, which oversees TxDOT, voted in March to move forward with a potential buyout of the toll road, though questions lingered about whether the state would stop the collection of tolls on the stretch of highway. An agenda item for the commission’s meeting next week is adding more doubt to the situation.
Commissioners are set to authorize the Texas Transportation Finance Corporation to “perform any function necessary to the exercise of powers delegated to the corporation in connection with the acquisition, development, financing, refinancing, design, construction, reconstruction, expansion, tolling, operation, and maintenance of the State Highway 288 Toll Lanes in Harris County.”
Terri Hall, the executive director of Texans United for Reform and Freedom and Texans for Toll-Free Highways, has raised the alarm to the commission.
“The goal of the commission should be to remove tolls. Under no circumstances should the Department expend public money to buy out a toll road and then continue to charge tolls. The goal needs to be to methodically plan to buy down all existing toll projects and convert them to freeways at the earliest possible date,” Hall wrote in a letter to the commissioners last month.
The Republican Party of Texas platform, approved in May, calls on the Texas Legislature to “abolish existing toll roads and prohibit future construction, returning responsibility for road construction and maintenance to the appropriate jurisdiction.”
Following the initial publication of the story, Adam Hammond, the media relations director, provided the following statement:
Tolling policies will not change in the short term, due to a contractually required transition period. By transferring the project to full state control, TxDOT anticipates that future toll rates will be significantly less than what are allowed for under the current concession agreement.
The Texas Transportation Commission is set to meet on Tuesday, July 30.
Letter to TxDOT from TX Representative Briscoe Cain - HD 128