Toll Road and Truckers Benefit from Discount
Land Line Magazine – January 6, 2012
AUSTIN, Tx. – The Texas Department of Transportation has found a win-win solution for a tolled bypass of downtown Austin by offering an incentive to get more truckers to use the route. A trial run of the discount between December 21 and January 4 was so successful that the agency has extended it through January 25. During the trial, TxDOT lowered the toll rates to $9 for truckers who would normally be charged $29 for cash tolls or $25 for TxTag payment on the SH 130 toll road.
“We’re pleased to see more through traffic choosing to use the tolled bypass around Austin, skipping some of that traffic in the Austin metro area and hopefully getting to their destination a little bit faster,” said TxDOT spokesperson Karen Amacker. She said the agency is going to look at the numbers and look for a compromise after January 25 that will keep traffic using the toll road and still charge enough to generate revenue to pay for the roadway.
“We’re going to continue to monitor the number of transactions and the revenue that comes in at this toll-rate level. We’ll try to determine what our path forward is from here, what combination of incentives we can offer the trucking community or regular passenger-vehicle traffic to get to that revenue sweet spot but also increase the amount of traffic on the tolled bypass and relieve some congestion through central Austin,” Amacker said. The Tom Warne Report