Is there also a SH 290 in Texas in addition to US 290?

[roadman65]

I noticed on my Rand McNally that part of US 290 east of Austin is partly a toll road.  However, RN shows that US 290 is outside the toll road on two red lines.  Google maps show a gap in US 290 as it being TX SH 290 ( or in a circle) along the tolled segment.

Since Delaware was granted permission by AASHTO to toll a US route and part of US 412 in OK is tolled, I assume that AASHTO could have done it here as well.  GSV, shows the service road as the US route, but has a TOLL TX 240 shield for the freeway.

Is the tolled freeway actually in reality a Texas State Designation with the service road offering a toll free bypass in suggestion?  Or is US 290 actually applied to the service roads like Beltway 8 is around Houston?

[wxfree]

No part of US 290 is a toll road.  In one stretch, there is a toll road that runs between the one-way roads, which act as frontage roads.  The toll road is run by the regional mobility authority and is not a state highway.  It's called 290 Toll.  State Highway 290 is in west Texas, where an old section of US 290 was bypassed by I-10.  It runs from I-10 to Sheffield, over the Pecos River, up Lancaster Hill, and back to the Interstate.

[TXtoNJ]

No part of US 290 is a toll road.  In one stretch, there is a toll road that runs between the one-way roads, which act as frontage roads.  The toll road is run by the regional mobility authority and is not a state highway.  It's called 290 Toll.  State Highway 290 is in west Texas, where an old section of US 290 was bypassed by I-10.  It runs from I-10 to Sheffield, over the Pecos River, up Lancaster Hill, and back to the Interstate.

To add, "290 Toll" is a name as much as "MoPac Expressway" or "Ben White Blvd" is.

[ElishaGOtis]

The official designation is "Toll 290" or TL-290. Similar to TL-183, TL-183A, and more. The US-290 designation follows the frontage roads. Texas doesn't seem to like tolling US routes or Interstates...

The only thing I can think of with a TL designation is the control sections.  On the statewide planning map, if you turn on the control section overlay and zoom in far enough, you'll see that every public road is assigned a control section.  City, county, and other non-state roads (such as national parks) have a designation of two letters followed by some numbers.  Toll roads that are not state highways have TL as the letters.  The Dallas North Tollway is TL 00-05.  They don't seem to mind getting cute with the designations.  The 290 toll road is TL 02-90 and the 183A toll road is TL 01-83.  If you go to the highway designation files, you'll see that there is no TL prefix, since those file apply only to state highways (of all types).

My description of off-system control sections is based on my observations on the map, not on any official documentation.  I can't say that my description is complete or accurate and can't say you won't find a different system somewhere on the map.  I haven't seen any evidence that the system is other than how I describe it.

Just going off of this map, which is similar to what you described but actually specifies the route numbers. https://gis-txdot.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/008906d83772435bb757cb76c9644e5d_0/explore?location=30.610919%2C-97.859775%2C13.61

Also shows the TL prefixes you described for off-system toll roads, like Dallas North Tollway as TL-5, Westpark Tollway as TL-32, PGBT as TL-161, Chisholm Trail Pkwy as TL-38, Hardy Toll Road as TL-15, Ft Bend Pkwy as TL-11, and HCTRA Sam Houston Tollway/Pkwy as TL-8 (in addition to SL-8).

Also not official

[Rothman]

*starts grumbling again about I-169 being shielded on frontage roads*

[TXtoNJ]

So the important points here are:

• SH 290 exists
• It is a decommissioned segment of the route of US 290 east of Sheffield
• Toll 290 is not a state highway
• Toll 290 does not have a state designated number, just an official name and control segments that correlate with the number

[roadman65]

*starts grumbling again about I-169 being shielded on frontage roads*

I think that was someone else.

  I never heard before that I-169 was on a frontage road.  In fact I was told by someone who actually drove it that its part of the toll road, but yet completed.

[Rothman]

*starts grumbling again about I-169 being shielded on frontage roads*

I think that was someone else.

Nope, I grumbled before and am grumbling again.

I never heard before that I-169 was on a frontage road.  In fact I was told by someone who actually drove it that its part of the toll road, but yet completed.

Well, as someone who just drove it in late November, I can assure you that I-169 is shielded on the frontage road and the limited access highway carries the toll shields, following the pattern described throughout this thread now.

[Bobby5280]

The bullshit with I-169 can be seen in some of the Google Street View imagery in that area. Toll 550 is signed along the actual main lanes and I-169 is signed on the frontage road segments and at a couple intersections where the toll road is 4-lane divided. The treatment is very much against normal Interstate signing standards. But I guess anything goes now with some of the other route signing nonsense AASHTO and FHWA is now approving.

[Rothman]

The bullshit with I-169 can be seen in some of the Google Street View imagery in that area. Toll 550 is signed along the actual main lanes and I-169 is signed on the frontage road segments and at a couple intersections where the toll road is 4-lane divided. The treatment is very much against normal Interstate signing standards. But I guess anything goes now with some of the other route signing nonsense AASHTO and FHWA is now approving.

And yet, they won't let NYSDOT shield I-86 without gazillion dollar investments in the highway...

[The Ghostbuster]

I completely agree with the "anything goes in Texas" comment. I wouldn't be surprised if Interstate 169 became an extension of Interstate 2 in the future, or if the toll road was extended to the Mexican border (although I consider both to be very unlikely).

[Bobby5280]

What was supposed to be I-169 has been a half-assed, half-completed joke of an Interstate spur for years. What's really strange is I would normally expect this kind of glacier-slow progress on a "free" gasoline tax funded route. TL-550 is a toll road funded via a toll agency with bonds. I'm guessing the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority couldn't sell enough bonds to complete the highway.

The highway probably should have been built as a toll free Interstate with some serious federal grant money as well as gas tax funding. If it had been up to me this I-169 thing would have done more than just dead-end at the intersection with TX-48. I would have extended it along TX-48 over to Port Isabel. If the highway was a proper Interstate with 2 or 3 lanes in each direction it would have been useful for getting motorists to/from South Padre Island, getting commercial traffic to port businesses and also serving more efficiently for hurricane evacuation.

[roadman65]

That sounds ridiculous for an interstate to be signed on a surface road, but it dont suprise me though.  These days anything can happen.

However, toll roads can be interstates unlike US routes. Well that was up until US 301, but that's the exception not the norm.

Unless its Florida where legislation dont allow it with the exception of Alligator Alley as that was allowed due to environmental concerns, interstates can be toll roads hence I-90.

[74/171FAN]

I thought there was a tolled turnpike section of US 412 in Oklahoma...

[kphoger]

I thought there was a tolled turnpike section of US 412 in Oklahoma...

Correct.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/q7QfPWVoZnFhEXya8
https://maps.app.goo.gl/cM2sVpvPXVLwnFdL8

[kphoger]

Also US-74-Byp:  https://maps.app.goo.gl/TJuszBea3rcZ5Bja8

[Rothman]

I thought there was a tolled turnpike section of US 412 in Oklahoma...

There's a fun tolled section of US 13...

And US 40...

[roadman65]

I thought there was a tolled turnpike section of US 412 in Oklahoma...

There is.  I just used US 301 as an example of the few exceptions.

[Road Hog]

TxDOT and the various tolling authorities might partner together on projects like SH 121 and SH 360, but oil and water are not mixing.

Usually what happens is the toll authority (NTTA in the DFW area) will take over the main lanes and TxDOT will claim the frontage roads.

Some similar arrangement going forward is likely unless state law is changed. Which is certainly possible in this political climate. The bigger guppies are gulping the smaller guppies but waiting until the Great Orange Shark says "GOTCHA!"