TX 360 tolled main lanes project agreed to by NTTA & TxDOT

[txstateends]

http://transportationblog.dallasnews.com/2013/01/ntta-reaches-preliminary-agreement-with-txdot-to-pursue-sh-360-extension-south-of-i-20.html/
http://www.scribd.com/doc/122211024/State-Highway-360-extension

The service roads exist, but not the main lanes, between Sublett Rd./Camp Wisdom Rd. and US 287 on TX 360.  Also, TxDOT has designated that TX 360 will eventually go as far south as US 67 between Venus and Midlothian.

[InterstateNG]

At first glance I thought this was about Loop 360 in Austin, which would have been news to me/better served in the fictional slum.

[wxfree]

My experience there is that it isn't really needed yet, although it will be sometime.  Even during the worst times for traffic I've never been bothered by slow traffic except right at the north end, at Camp Wisdom and Sublett.  I thought they should just build the overpass and charge about 50 cents to use it.  I'd pay that.  With this whole thing being a toll road, I'd just drive along the existing frontage roads and use only the northernmost ramp to avoid Camp Wisdom and Sublett.  The current minimum ramp toll is 23 cents, because the minimum distance charged is 1.5 miles (although rates may be higher on this road).

Some people get really stressed in traffic, so maybe others will be willing to pay for the whole thing.  I don't get stressed; my only concern is time, and I haven't found the current arrangement to take too much time, except for that northernmost intersection.  It seems to me like they're overbuilding.  Of course, there's always the chance that they'll change the signals to mess up traffic flow on the frontage roads after the toll lanes are built.  That does seem to happen when new toll roads open.

[Road Hog]

My experience there is that it isn't really needed yet, although it will be sometime.  Even during the worst times for traffic I've never been bothered by slow traffic except right at the north end, at Camp Wisdom and Sublett.  I thought they should just build the overpass and charge about 50 cents to use it.  I'd pay that.  With this whole thing being a toll road, I'd just drive along the existing frontage roads and use only the northernmost ramp to avoid Camp Wisdom and Sublett.  The current minimum ramp toll is 23 cents, because the minimum distance charged is 1.5 miles (although rates may be higher on this road).

Take it three times and you'll get a bill in the mail for 96 cents.

Which means NTTA sends you a bill with a postage of 46 cents, eating up more than half their profit.

But never fear! More suckers in Collin County to make up the difference!

[wxfree]

My experience there is that it isn't really needed yet, although it will be sometime.  Even during the worst times for traffic I've never been bothered by slow traffic except right at the north end, at Camp Wisdom and Sublett.  I thought they should just build the overpass and charge about 50 cents to use it.  I'd pay that.  With this whole thing being a toll road, I'd just drive along the existing frontage roads and use only the northernmost ramp to avoid Camp Wisdom and Sublett.  The current minimum ramp toll is 23 cents, because the minimum distance charged is 1.5 miles (although rates may be higher on this road).

Take it three times and you'll get a bill in the mail for 96 cents.

Which means NTTA sends you a bill with a postage of 46 cents, eating up more than half their profit.

But never fear! More suckers in Collin County to make up the difference!

I have a TxTag, so I wouldn't get a bill.  A non-tag user would pay 50% more, so let's say $1.5.  They also add a billing fee of $1.15, so that's about $2.65.  I believe I read somewhere it costs nearly $4, I think it was $3.85, for them to send a bill.  This includes everything such as postage, paper, printing equipment, personnel, etc.  Reducing the minimum number of tolls for sending a bill from 5 to 3 seems like a mistake, unless they've made it more efficient since that story was written.  I really think it should be based on a minimum amount, like $10.

I live on the Fort Worth side; no toll roads here yet, but one's under construction.  It's another one I really don't think is needed.  It connects to Johnson County, an area with lower incomes, where most people can't afford to pay $10 to get to Fort Worth and back.  I think it's unfortunate what TxDOT did to Collin County, trying to squeeze more money out of people who have a little more of it by boxing them in with toll roads.  Y'all get to pay billions of dollars for roads for other people to use.  And it's stupid what NTTA is doing in Johnson County, trying to squeeze money out of farmers and factory workers who don't have it.  Collin County better get ready to subsidize another road others are using.

[TXtoNJ]

My experience there is that it isn't really needed yet, although it will be sometime.  Even during the worst times for traffic I've never been bothered by slow traffic except right at the north end, at Camp Wisdom and Sublett.  I thought they should just build the overpass and charge about 50 cents to use it.  I'd pay that.  With this whole thing being a toll road, I'd just drive along the existing frontage roads and use only the northernmost ramp to avoid Camp Wisdom and Sublett.  The current minimum ramp toll is 23 cents, because the minimum distance charged is 1.5 miles (although rates may be higher on this road).

Take it three times and you'll get a bill in the mail for 96 cents.

Which means NTTA sends you a bill with a postage of 46 cents, eating up more than half their profit.

But never fear! More suckers in Collin County to make up the difference!

I have a TxTag, so I wouldn't get a bill.  A non-tag user would pay 50% more, so let's say $1.5.  They also add a billing fee of $1.15, so that's about $2.65.  I believe I read somewhere it costs nearly $4, I think it was $3.85, for them to send a bill.  This includes everything such as postage, paper, printing equipment, personnel, etc.  Reducing the minimum number of tolls for sending a bill from 5 to 3 seems like a mistake, unless they've made it more efficient since that story was written.  I really think it should be based on a minimum amount, like $10.

I live on the Fort Worth side; no toll roads here yet, but one's under construction.  It's another one I really don't think is needed.  It connects to Johnson County, an area with lower incomes, where most people can't afford to pay $10 to get to Fort Worth and back.  I think it's unfortunate what TxDOT did to Collin County, trying to squeeze more money out of people who have a little more of it by boxing them in with toll roads.  Y'all get to pay billions of dollars for roads for other people to use.  And it's stupid what NTTA is doing in Johnson County, trying to squeeze money out of farmers and factory workers who don't have it.  Collin County better get ready to subsidize another road others are using.

That's not the point of the Chisholm Trail Parkway. It's intended as a spur to further suburban  development. A decade after it's finished, it won't be farmers and factory workers any longer.

[wxfree]

That's not the point of the Chisholm Trail Parkway. It's intended as a spur to further suburban  development. A decade after it's finished, it won't be farmers and factory workers any longer.

That's the plan, but I don't think I'd bet a billion dollars on it.  In a sense, NTTA didn't; they got TxDOT to back up the debt and didn't mortgage their whole system for it.

NTTA has a good record of building roads in areas that already had traffic and people ready to pay to get out of it.  Instead of assuming the new road would bring growth and traffic, they built where the growth was already happening.  Unfortunately for people in Collin County, that's them.  Now they're building a road with almost 20 miles through open fields, avoiding Crowley, Burleson, and, to some extent, Joshua, to intersect narrow, barely-paved county roads with almost no traffic.

I wouldn't mind having the road to drive on when I need to go out that way, but this seems like a shift in NTTA strategy.  When building toll roads, I'd say "they're here; let's build," and not "let's build and hope they come before we go bankrupt."

Most of the 360 project does at least run through built-up areas.

[Road Hog]

I'm one of the lucky ones up here who don't have to pay a toll every day. For that reason, I don't use a TollTag, because I don't use NTTA often enough to make it worthwhile really.