North Texas Tollway Authority

Your Highway Tolls Are Going Up

Fresh off its registration-blocking, car-impounding victory in the state legislature this month, the North Texas Tollway Authority is hiking the cost of driving on its roads. The agency announced this morning that toll rates are increasing by slightly less than a penny per mile come July 1, from 15 ... More >>

NTTA Will Soon Have the Power to Block Vehicle Registrations and Impound Cars

The North Texas Tollway Authority has been taking an increasingly punitive approach to chasing down toll scofflaws. First came the public shaming, then the lawsuits. Now, it could start impounding cars. A bill to give the NTTA the power to block vehicle registrations and ban cars from its tollways ... More >>

North Texas Tollway Authority Now Officially Suing the Pants off Habitual Toll Violators

We knew this was coming. The North Texas Tollway Authority kind of telegraphed it when the agency announced that some 6,000 of its top scofflaws would be referred to an outside law firm for possible litigation over their toll-ignoring ways. And now, it's here. The NTTA filed more than a dozen civil ... More >>

Louisiana Man Sues His Wife For Racking Up Toll Debt, Wants NTTA to Stop Harassing Him

Joel Schulman is not on the North Texas Tollway Authority's list of top toll scofflaws. In fact, he lives in Bossier City, Louisiana, three hours east of the nearest NTTA-controlled roadway. That hasn't stopped the agency from sending notice after notice demanding payment for tolls racked up by a c ... More >>

The NTTA's About to Drop 6,000 Lawsuits on Repeat Toll Violators

In June, as part of its ongoing effort to further endear itself to the driving public, the North Texas Tollway Authority announced it would post the names of its top toll violators for all to see. Done. The agency simultaneously announced it would be filing civil lawsuits against some of those indiv ... More >>

You Can Now Ride Free on the Tollway. All You Have to Do is Nearly Die in a War.

The North Texas Tollway Authority has made headlines of late for slapping outrageous fees on civilians and veterans alike, publicly shaming them, then threatening to sue and boot their cars. But really, the agency wants you to know, it's not the bogeyman some people make it out to be. It's always lo ... More >>

Our Tollway Guys Can't Even Collect Tolls -- and That's Just the Start of Their Problems

If I had one of those framed crochet mottos on the wall over my desk, it would say, "Give Credit Where Credit is Due, asterisk." Below the asterisk at the bottom of the frame it would say, "Except for the Dallas Morning News." Ah, but you know. Sometimes you gotta stretch. Gotta do it, even if it ... More >>

Public Shaming Complete, NTTA Now Wants to Boot Your Car

A few years back, the North Texas Tollway Authority took out those pesky toll booths and replaced them with cameras that, if you happen not to have a toll tag, snap a picture of your license plate and helpfully send you a bill -- or send a bill to the address at which the car you are driving is regi ... More >>

Toll Agency Says Good Christian Bitches Author Kim Gatlin Owes Them $16,000

As promised, the North Texas Tollway Authority published a list of all drivers with 100 or more unpaid tolls, and it's a long one. Some 25,000-plus people owe the agency a total of $12.5 million. NTTA is billing the posting as a convenient resource for drivers to check and see if they owe any money ... More >>

Tollway Authority Swears List of Top Toll Violators Not Attempt to Shame Top Toll Violators

At its meeting today, the board of the North Texas Tollway Authority approved a plan to publish the names of every person who has 100 or more unpaid tolls. It will be an updated list of more than 25,000 drivers who owe something like $12.5 million. I can get behind that. I'm too cheap to pay tolls, ... More >>

OK, OK: The Latest Trinity River Toll Road Report Sprinkles B.S. on the Peak of Mount B.S.

Look, we're sorry. We wanted badly to just ignore the earth-shattering news. Unfortunately, though, Schutze is off in Arkansas ingesting giardia all week, and not everyone reads The Dallas Morning News (cheap bastards), so it's up to those left behind to let everyone in on it. Ready? Here it is: F ... More >>

Matrice Ellis-Kirk's NTTA Appointment Gets Diversity Without Greasing the Price Machine

​So, Lakewood is in southern Dallas now. Either that, or all black Dallasites are residents of southern Dallas, no matter where they live. Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price tells The Dallas Morning News in a story today that the proposed appointment of Matrice Ellis-Kirk to serve on ... More >>

If You Want to Sit In On Sneak Peek at IH35E Expansion in Dallas, Feel Free Next Week

Via Texas FreewayIn 1959, looking south on IH35E from just below 121​Came across this on the city's website: an invite to an open house at R.L. Turner on Tuesday, during which Texas Department of Transportation officials will discuss a project that, as Jim noted only yesterday, the North Texas Tol ... More >>

Transportation News is Bad, But the Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades

​Straws in the wind: 1) Rick Perry, toll czar of Texas, still pushing private highways; 2) DART a dismal failure; 3) North Texas Tollway Authority still run by the good old boys. This could all be good. You know where we need to wind up with all this? A toll road from Dallas up to Lake Texoma ... More >>

Remember, the NTTA's Hiking Rates Friday

​A lifelong Friend of Unfair Park just called from the southbound lanes of the Dallas North Tollway wondering how in the hell did he miss the news that come Friday, the North Texas Tollway Authority's jacking up rates, according to the flashing heads-up greeting motorists this morning. That's unde ... More >>

The Secretive North Texas Tollway Authority Board Readies Another Human Sacrifice

​If you want to know how Dallas winds up with crazy stuff that no normal citizen in his or her right mind would ever approve, take a good long look at the North Texas Tollway Authority, a $420 million-a-year fiefdom run by a bunch of mopes nobody has ever heard of. The board members are appoin ... More >>

Slow Learners: Dallas Morning News Plants Another Nail in Trinity Toll Road's Coffin

​Michael Lindenberger had a great piece in The Dallas Morning News yesterday about public distortions of fact by former mayor Tom Leppert and backers of the Trinity Toll Road like the Trinity Commons Foundation before the 2007 toll road alignment referendum. The main thing the story got acros ... More >>

Toll Tagged: NTTA Chair Wageman Still Waging War on Opening Up Bidding Process

​The North Texas Tollway Authority board of directors is meeting as you read to take yet another whack at its "legacy contractors" problem. Item No. 11 on this morning's agenda, dealing with "future procurements," will provide the sparks:Discussion and possible direction to staff regarding the Boa ... More >>

If You Need to Take the Tollway In or Out of Downtown Late Sunday or Early Monday, Don't

​On the way into work yesterday via the Dallas North Tollway, I noticed a sign on the southbound side warning of a pending closure on June 7 -- as in, not one lane but the whole tollroad. But traffic and construction crews obscured the what and the where. Didn't see mention of it on the North Texa ... More >>

Does Dallas County Need More Toll Roads? Maybe So, Maurine Dickey Says.

NTTA Feels the Need, the Need for Speed

​Perhaps you've heard: The North Texas Tollway Authority will, come September 1, most likely raise the speed limit on most area toll roads to 70 miles per hour following a full board vote one week from Wednesday. There will be some exceptions: For instance the Dallas North Tollway between Oak Lawn ... More >>

Going Green While Making Green? WSJ Ponders Bush Turnpike's Toll Collection.

One day after the President George Bush Turnpike went to all-electronic toll collection, The Wall Street Journal's Environmental Capital blog takes note of one of the North Texas Tollway Authority's reasons for ditching the quarter-catchers: "Air Quality and Fuel Efficiency." As in: "Transitioning t ... More >>

Who Will Deliver the Coup de Grace to the Trinity toll road, the Corps or NTTA?

Sooner Than Later, Those Round, Green Tollroad Signs Will Be Tossed Forever

Justin CozartAbout a year ago, the North Texas Tollway Authority announced that it had chosen a new "trailblazer" design for its signs -- that's one of them at right, matter of fact, in a photo taken over the weekend by friend of the show Justin Cozart. But till Justin mentioned it in an e-mail to U ... More >>

Convention Center Hotel Promoters are a Bunch of Get-Along Business Guys Who May Not Even Realize Their Own Deception

Caution Bordering on Gloom at Last Night's Soul-Sapping Trinity Toll Road Hearing

Patrick MichelsDuring last night's hearing, Angela Hunt tweeted that "the NTTA & TXDOT are still doing their slideshow. Mind-numbing. They shoulda done this earlier so there'd be more time for public comment."Last night's four-hour "hearing" on the Trinity River toll road was one big toothache ... More >>

On May 5, You're Invited to Grill TxDOT and NTTA Officials About the Trinity Toll Road

The Trinity Parkway alignment currently supported by the NTTA and the city of DallasJudy Schmidt at Dallas City Hall just called to say she's not sure where The Dallas Morning News got its info about a Mayor Tom Leppert-led Trinity River Corridor Project Summit this morning, because, she insists, th ... More >>

Rasansky Exposes Potential Need for Gigantic Wall to Improve Levee System, Won't Support Toll Road If Funding Isn't There

Brian HarkinMitchell Rasansky appears to be getting close to changing his mind about the Trinity TurnpikeTo those paying close attention, council member Mitchell Rasansky has indicated over the past couple weeks that his support for the Trinity Turnpike is diminishing, and he took another step towar ... More >>

Trinity Chairman Sees "Many, Many Obstacles" With Turnpike Project

Sam MertenFrom left to right: Gene Rice and Kevin Craig of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Dan Chapman of HNTB and project manager for the NTTA and Rebecca Dugger, director of the Trinity River Corridor Project As Schutze mentioned earlier, the council's Trinity River Corridor Project Committee m ... More >>

For Whom the Toll Bells

The North Texas Tollway Authority exacts a stiff price for those who drive willy-nilly on its highways

Trinity River Corridor Project Creeps On, 10 Years and Millions of Dollars Later

Prediction for 2009: Trinity Toll Road Finally Crashes and Burns for Good

Here's hoping that the next year brings us a big, stinking failure on the Trinity

Really, About the Trinity Parkway, Don't Hold Your Breath. Not Yet, Anyway.

Rethinking Pink

Getting Answers from the City's Holy Trinity About the Trinity Project

More Truth About What the Trinity Parkway Will Really Cost Us

NTTA Says We're Parking Up the Wrong Tree. Sure, Whatever You Say.

Taking Its Toll

This Little Piggy Goes to Town

Jim Schutze Doesn't Forgive or Forget

Read This While We Decide Whether to Get Out of Bed This Morning

Digging for Toll Road Facts

Schutze sifts through a mountain of dirt to find the truth

Leppert Answers Our Levee, Tollway Questions

Do Not Get on the Tollway This Weekend, Whatever You Do

Damn this Traffic Jam

Road Rage

Who's telling the truth about the Trinity toll road? You decide.

Mayor to Schutze: "You Are Wrong."

Ethics, schmethics

For whom the toll tolls

Taking Its Toll

$ucker$

Forget Brooklyn -- Dallas' own Trinity River boosters aim to con you out of tax dollars for seven silly bridges