Proposed Texas Toll Road Could Drive Away Truckers

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planned multi-billion dollar toll road in Texas that would recoup its costs by charging tolls may prompt truckers to avoid the highway, the Waco (Texas) Tribune-Herald newspaper reported Monday.

The proposed Trans-Texas Corridor was touted by backers as a way to ease congestion along Interstate 35 by taking some of the thousands of trucks that use I-35 each day, the paper said, but it quoted both independent and company drivers who said they would avoid the new road.

Trucks would pay 58.5 cents a mile to drive the 370-mile corridor, with the fees set by its international developer, Cintra-Zachry, the Tribune-Herald reported. Passenger cars would pay 15.2 cents per mile.

That company would spend $8.8 billion to build the road and pay the state $1.9 billion, then have the rights to recoup its expenses and make a profit by charging tolls on the road for 50 years, the paper said.

The Texas Department of Transportation unveiled a plan for the corridor in September. (Click here for previous coverage.)