Go to one of the large metropolitan areas in Texas and you’re bound to see a thing. From Highways 183 and 290 in Austin to Interstate 10 and Loop 8 in Houston. All the way to I-10 in San Antonio, to I-35E and US 75 Central Expressway in Dallas. On the windshields of cars driven by Texans is a small blue square with an orange “T” in the middle. No, this is not some weird Texas tradition. At least, it’s not one we enjoy.

The little sticker is, in essence, a discount card for use on the state’s toll roads. Receive a 50% lower rate on the tolls you pay when you sign up for a TollTag. It is linked to a bank account, and money is withdrawn and added to your account automatically. In Texas, we don’t slow down and drop quarters in some basket because we are driving 75-85 MPH and that would make us stop. Sorry, not our style.

People outside of Texas may think we walk around in cowboy boots, ride horses, and take long walks around the gun range. We actually sit in traffic and pay to use most of the roads we drive on. Not exactly the ideal South Texas that Hollywood portrays.

The North Texas Turnpike Authority (NTTA) is a political subdivision of the State of Texas. The Encyclopedia of Political Science defines a political subdivision as a local government established by a State. As with cities, political subdivisions are considered special districts and function similar to city government.

For Texans on the highways of Dallas, Austin, Houston, or San Antonio, it isn’t long before they turn and see a Tollway sign. An excellent piece of information is to give the cost of driving on the highway. But while it takes to get out of Texas, the question remains: “Does Texas have more toll roads than other states?” In shorts, yes. And by a lot.

The State of California has a total of four toll roads. New York has three and Oklahoma the largest for a total of nine. Well, except Texas. The Lone Star State is home to a total of 23 toll roads and three “express lanes,” which are toll roads built alongside major highways. All with a clever marketing pitch that the road is some kind of luxury service to help commuters for a small fee.

But what happens when these routes become the main form of displacement? Well, communities in developing areas in the northern suburbs of Dallas are feeling that reality. The up and coming suburbs of Frisco, The Colony and Prosper have two options for commuting to the big city of Dallas. A toll road or low roads that would add between an hour and an hour and a half to the travel time.

As an example, when leaving Frisco and heading to downtown Dallas, you have a few options. You can get on the Sam Rayburn Tollway and head south to connect with the Dallas North Tollway (DNT). You can take the DNT directly south through Addison, Farmers Branch, Highland Park, University Park and land directly in downtown Dallas. The alternative route would take an exit to enter the President George Bush Turnpike (PGBT) and go through a toll booth and join US 75 Central Expressway, which is clearly not a turnpike either.

For those who wanted to avoid the toll roads when traveling from Frisco, it would be a long drive, but possible. From Main Street in Frisco you will need to navigate to Coit Rd. Going south on roads at 35-40 mph as well as traffic lights and school zones. It would eventually reach Richardson and find its way to Campbell Rd, Spring Creek Pkwy, or Belt Line Rd and head east to join US 75. Sound confusing? It is, and that’s why thousands of people every day get on the turnpikes and keep rolling.

The question arises and must be asked; When is it too much? And it’s a question that a lot of people are starting to talk about. I live in the North Dallas area and frequently ride the PGBT and DNT. There are options to maneuver around the highway to avoid charges, but the time it would take is not only inconvenient, but impossible for me, for example, to go from work to pick up my son from daycare. Or dropping my son off and getting to work on time, and sometimes late if traffic is bad. These are circumstances that are not about being impatient, but realistic and finding the possible way to travel.

The North Texas Toll Road Authority (NTTA) has not been without controversy. From a rumor of being a foreign company to the payment of large salaries to its Board of Directors, rumors are flying that are false and also some questions that have no answer. To end the statement, no, the NTTA is not a foreign company that owns the Texas turnpikes. While there hasn’t been significant transparency about which sources are used in road construction contracts, as for the NTTA itself it doesn’t consider itself a company, at least on paper.

One rumor that is true is that in 2010, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began a search for the NTTA. They questioned several board members about the actions of former board members in a fraud-related investigation. There has been no word from either the NTTA or the FBI on the details of this search.

The NTTA addresses on the website, which includes a large section dedicated to questions and answers, that the nine members of the Board of Directors serve for two-year terms and are not paid. Now, it is explained that the board members are appointed by the counties in which the highway is located. Whether these same counties give members a paycheck is not addressed. Although this is just my opinion, I highly doubt anyone would do the job of leading the NTTA and not be financially compensated in some way. It seems highly unlikely, but without detailed views of exactly where the money is going, we can’t be sure.

The agency touts a solid foundation to pay for health insurance for 80% of employees, a retirement program, and other incentives and benefits that make them look like a good, outstanding entity. Not until you dig into the 103-page PDF document released by the Authority that you find on page 58 a breakdown of its structure. Building 776 employees and growing, you’ll see that of these employees only 54 are full-time positions. Unfortunately, this means that only 7% of your employees could take advantage of these great benefits.

The other surprising aspect is the division of officials in its structure. Most of the staff is in the Customer Service department (289). Next up is Incident Management (98), and only a handful in Finance, Internal Audit and Public Affairs. They take this issue of customer service very seriously! Where you would expect a large number of people in departments to keep the roads safe, clean, maintained and to the highest standard, you find there are only around 30-40 staff appointed to this position. That’s too little to cover four major cities and 26 highways.

Using the term “Customer” is fascinating. The consensus in the business world is that a customer is an individual who decides to purchase a service or product. In that, they have the free choice to buy or not. And they can go to their competitor for whatever reason they deem necessary.

In this regard, the NTTA is in an excellent position. First of all, they have no competition. You cannot choose which toll road to use. Secondly, for many of those who have come forward above, the use of their service that is given as an alternative is many times the opposite. They have no other viable option to get from one point to another than to go through the electronic toll collection system.

Do toll roads make a lot of money? Well, out of the 26 in Texas and also including the 3 Express Lanes, in 2015 the NTTA had a revenue of $608,368,030. Its operating budget was $137,513,520. And the Net Debt Service reached an impressive figure of $359,946,028. The term “Net Debt Service” is the total of all the debt that the company has.

Although many would assume that with revenues far exceeding both operating costs and the company’s debt, this would be paid off immediately, this is incorrect. The NTTA provides a detailed breakdown of how they divide your debt into “third parties” and pay it off piecemeal, ranging from $51,000,000 to $148,000,000 in any given year. Meaning that in 2015, if they paid down their maximum level of debt and subtracted the cost of operating, the company had a good chunk of change left over around the $322,202,141 figure and a few cents.

We come to the place where the NTTA transparency ends and turns cloudy. It is what fuels distrust in the entity that professes to be a non-profit agency. We might assume that the leftover funds are being saved to pay for future expansions, but we are left with the question of why the amount of debt the NTTA carries continues to increase when developments are complete.

Unfortunately, I cannot answer the questions of where the money is coming from and if there are any cover-ups or money deals under the table. All I can do is get the information provided by the Authority and look at it critically and logically and try to find answers to the questions. Many people have researched these issues and are denied or given answers in a generic and uninformative way.

The question begs to be answered: at what level are Texans saying “Enough!” to the construction of more toll roads and lanes destined for Express Lanes. And at what point do charges incurred in all the cloaks of being presented as some kind of luxury actually become a tax for driving on desperately needed roads?

In Texas, the Texas government has been known to do its thing and the citizens continue to live their lives. In 2014 we had the first debate between the two gubernatorial candidates in over ten years. And speaking to Texans, even those involved in following politics rarely know much about what’s going on. Even when former Governor Rick Perry cut the Education budget in half in 2009 from $10,000,000,000 to $5,000,000,000, citizens rarely knew or even cared. Maybe it’s time to change that.

Texans need to realize that these roads are sprouting and continue to grow. Many new developments lead to more remote areas which will only extend the fact that there is no other option than a toll road available to reach the desired location. In the idea of ​​a pay-as-you-drive to help build better roads is a good idea, there has to be a limit and understanding of the duration of the payment. No law currently restricts the operating range of a toll road, leading any intelligent individual to assume that with profits like the NTTA is making, we shouldn’t expect the DNT to be toll-free anytime soon. term.

Raise your voice. Every opinion matters. But in the meantime, if you’re driving in a big Texas city, don’t forget your checkbook!