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38-643: Construction on the toll road started in September 1984 and the entire road was complete by June 1988. The toll road runs 21.6 miles (34.8 km) and costs $ 3 to drive its full length ($ 1.50 north of Beltway 8 and $ 1.50 south of Beltway 8). A four-mile (6 km) connecting road to the George Bush Intercontinental Airport requires a $ 1.20 toll. As of July 18, 2016, the Hardy Toll Road discontinued cash tolling and made

76-430: A fee to be ferried across stretches of water. As boats became impractical to carry large loads, ferry operators looked for new sources of revenue. Having built a bridge, they hoped to recoup their investment by charging tolls for people, animals, vehicles, and goods to cross it. The original London Bridge across the river Thames opened as a toll bridge, but an accumulation of funds by the charitable trust that operated

114-441: A means of taxation. TSC is the sum of administrative, compliance, fuel and pollution costs. In 2000 they estimated it to be $ 56,914,732, or 37.3% of revenue collected. They also found that a user of a toll road is subject to a form of triple taxation, and that toll collection is a very inefficient means of funding the development of highway infrastructure. Nakamura and Kockelman (2002) show that tolls are by nature regressive, shifting

152-474: A quasi-governmental authority was formed, and toll revenue bonds were issued to raise funds for construction or operation (or both) of the facility. Peters and Kramer observed that "little research has been done to quantify the impact of toll collection on society as a whole" and therefore they published a comprehensive analysis of the Total Societal Cost (TSC) associated with toll collection as

190-543: A similar problem associated with the government collection of information. Approvals were to be secured by government agencies before promulgating a paper form, website, survey or electronic submission that will impose an information collection burden on the general public. However, the act did not anticipate and thus address the burden on the public associated with funding infrastructure via electronic toll collection instead of through more traditional forms of taxation. In some instances, tolls have been removed after retirement of

228-451: A toll bridge to only charge a fee in one direction. This helps reduce the traffic congestion in the other direction, and generally does not significantly reduce revenue, especially when those travelling the one direction are forced to come back over the same or a different toll bridge. A practice known as shunpiking evolved which entails finding another route for the specific purpose of avoiding payment of tolls. In some situations where

266-528: Is detected, it notifies the closest law enforcement officer to investigate. At this time, Precinct 5 Constables and Harris County Sheriff's Office are being notified, but Houston Police Department has shown interest and wishes to be included to be notified. The total number of cameras that are planned for the system is 35. A previous route numbered Loop 8 was designated on September 25, 1939, in Beaumont, running from US 59 (later US 96, after

304-492: Is in Harris County . All exits are unnumbered. Toll bridge A toll bridge is a bridge where a monetary charge (or toll ) is required to pass over. Generally the private or public owner, builder and maintainer of the bridge uses the toll to recoup their investment, in much the same way as a toll road . The practice of collecting tolls on bridges harks back to the days of ferry crossings where people paid

342-473: The 1939 redescription of the highway system ) at Gladys Street via Gulf Street, North Street, and Fourth Street to US 90 as a renumbering of SH 8 Loop . This route was cancelled on January 18, 1944. Houston, known for its fast population growth, began planning for a second beltway in the 1950s (the first was the I-610 loop, created between the 1950s and the 1970s). The beltway was designated as part of

380-585: The George Washington Bridge over Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey , the continued collection of tolls provides a dedicated source of funds for ongoing maintenance and improvements. Sometimes citizens revolt against toll plazas, as was the case in Jacksonville, Florida . Tolls were in place on four bridges crossing the St. Johns River, including I-95. These tolls paid for

418-734: The Hardy Toll Road (basically a reliever for I-45 between downtown Houston and Montgomery County ) and the Sam Houston Tollway, which would be the main lanes of the Beltway. Shortly after the referendum, the Harris County Commissioners Court created the HCTRA to administer the construction and operation of the new road system. Then-County Judge Jon Lindsay is generally credited with shepherding

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456-831: The Sam Houston Parkway , along with the Sam Houston Tollway , is an 88-mile (142 km) beltway around the city of Houston, Texas , United States, lying entirely within Harris County . Beltway 8, a state highway maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), runs mostly along the frontage roads of the tollway, only using the main lanes where they are free: between Interstate 45 (I-45, North Freeway ) and Interstate 69 / US Highway 59 (I-69/US 59, Eastex Freeway ); and between US 90 (Crosby Freeway) and I-10 ( Baytown-East Freeway ). The main lanes elsewhere are

494-530: The San Jacinto River , with the northern terminus planned to be at Loop 336 . As of 2003 no plans for construction had been formulated. The following are the number of mainlanes in each direction, as of May 2017: The entire route is in Harris County . All exits are unnumbered. The entire route is in Houston , Harris County . Texas State Highway Beltway 8 Beltway 8 ( BW8 ),

532-539: The Skye Bridge from its owners in late 2004, ending the requirement to pay an unpopular expensive toll to cross to Skye from the mainland. In 2004, the German government cancelled a contract with the "Toll Collect" syndicate after much negative publicity. The term "Toll Collect" became a popular byword among Germans used to describe everything wrong with their national economy. It has become increasingly common for

570-534: The Union Pacific railroad runs along its median. Like other toll roads in the Houston area , the speed limit is 65 mph (105 km/h), even inside Beltway 8. Future plans are to extend the toll road south an additional four miles (6 km) into downtown Houston (the northernmost mile marker is 25, though the current road is only 21.6 miles (34.8 km) long). In November 2007 the city of Houston gave approval for street closures required to construct

608-501: The shadow price of electronic toll collection (instead of the TSC) may have misled decision-makers. The general public has additionally endured an increased administrative burden associated with paying toll bills and navigating toll collection company on-line billing systems. Additionally, visitors to a region may incur e-toll tag fees imposed by their rental car company. The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 identified and attempted to address

646-693: The toll revenue bonds issued to raise funds. Examples include the Robert E. Lee Memorial Bridge in Richmond, Virginia which carries U.S. Route 1 across the James River , and the 4.5-mile long James River Bridge 80 miles downstream which carries U.S. Highway 17 across the river of the same name near its mouth at Hampton Roads . In other cases, especially major facilities such as the Chesapeake Bay Bridge near Annapolis, Maryland , and

684-614: The Hardy Toll Road Downtown connector began in 2014. Because the population of Montgomery County experienced quick growth, the need for a northward extension was evaluated. Originally, the plan was to construct the extension along the right-of-way for the railroad. However, recent growth in Oak Ridge North requires that the Hardy Toll Road extension deviate from this right-of-way in places. Feasibility studies have evaluated possible routes between FM 1314 and

722-508: The Houston area. The inner beltway, I-610 , lies mostly within Houston (except for an approximate two-mile (3.2 km) stretch that runs through the City of Bellaire ), and the outer beltway, SH 99 (Grand Parkway), is currently partially complete. Like other toll roads in the Houston area , the speed limit is 65 mph (105 km/h). The longest free section of main lanes is on

760-502: The Sam Houston Ship Channel Bridge, and moving in a clockwise direction, mainlane counts are as follows: A number of cameras are located at toll booths to record license plate information to a database and send a ticket for toll violations via mail. Recently, this system has been upgraded to alert local authorities if a vehicle has been flagged for any reason, including AMBER Alerts . When a flagged vehicle

798-719: The Sam Houston Tollway, a toll road owned and operated by the Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA). East of Houston, the tollway crosses the Houston Ship Channel on the Sam Houston Ship Channel Bridge , a toll bridge ; this forms a gap in Beltway ;8 between I-10 (Baytown-East Freeway) and State Highway 225 (SH 225, La Porte Freeway). Beltway 8 is the intermediate beltway in

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836-475: The bridge ( Bridge House Estates ) saw that the charges were dropped. Using interest on its capital assets, the trust now owns and runs all seven central London bridges at no cost to taxpayers or users. In the United States, private ownership of toll bridges peaked in the mid-19th century, and by the turn of the 20th century most toll bridges were taken over by state highway departments. In some instances,

874-566: The burden of taxation disproportionately to the poor and middle classes. Electronic toll collection , branded under names such as EZ-Pass, SunPass, IPass, FasTrak, Treo, GoodToGo, and 407ETR, became increasingly prevalent to metropolitan areas in the 21st century. Amy Finkelstien, a public finance economist at MIT, reports that as the fraction of drivers using electronic toll collection increased, typically toll rates increased as well, because people were less aware of how much they were paying in tolls. Electronic tolling proposals that represented

912-518: The connections to the downtown freeway loop. Originally, construction was scheduled to start in August 2009 with completion sometime in 2011; however, this has been delayed. It is expected that the toll road will deviate from Hardy Street south of I-610 and follow Maury Street to connect with the Eastex Freeway near I-10, as part of the ramp connections have already been built. Construction on

950-465: The freeway-to-freeway interchanges at the Baytown-East, Gulf and Southwest Freeways. The frontage roads are generally continuous, and allow for slower free travel along the tolled segments. Only one break exists in the frontage roads; there are also several locations where one must turn to stay on them: The lane count is for mainlanes only, unless otherwise noted. Starting at the north end of

988-433: The narrow privately funded structure built in 1928, the state of Virginia finally purchased the facility in 1949 and increased the tolls in 1955 without visibly improving the roadway, with the notable exception of a new toll plaza. The increased toll rates incensed the public and business users alike. Joseph W. Luter Jr. , head of Smithfield Packing Company , the producer of Smithfield Hams , ordered his truck drivers to take

1026-569: The north side of Houston, stretching from Ella Boulevard east to Mesa Drive. This is maintained by TxDOT east of roughly the Hardy Toll Road interchange. This particular free section has remained untolled since its 1969 opening because of accessibility to George Bush Intercontinental Airport . It includes the interchanges with I-69 / US 59 (Eastex Freeway), John F. Kennedy Boulevard, the Hardy Toll Road, and I-45 (North Freeway). Three shorter free sections also exist: These all exist in order to allow federal funding to have been used to build

1064-490: The opening 80-minute set. The band Huey Lewis and the News performed at the ceremony. The segment between US 290 and I-45 opened on July 8, 1990. The project was on schedule and $ 133 million (equivalent to $ 274 million in 2023 ) under budget. Despite recent speculation about the possibility of the Sam Houston Tollway being sold by HCTRA to a private firm, the Harris County Commissioners Court unanimously voted to keep

1102-528: The opening of West Belt Drive and Roark Road, two surface streets, in the mid-1970s. Efforts to construct a bridge over the Houston Ship Channel were stymied until the Texas Turnpike Authority (TTA) was able to do so as a toll facility in the late 1970s. As a result, the section of Beltway 8 from I-10 to SH 225 on the east side of Houston was removed from the state highway system on July 24, 1978. The Jesse H. Jones Memorial Bridge

1140-409: The opening of the segment of Beltway 8 between I-10 (Katy Freeway) and US 290. On July 7, 1990, a ceremony, called Road Party II, took place for the opening of the section of Beltway 8 between I-45 (North Freeway) and US 290, the final segment. Organizers had planned for a crowd of 100,000. KLOL , a radio station, sponsored the event. Jerry Lightfoot & The Essential Band did

1178-416: The referendum from its infancy to its passage, along with the implementation of the plan for the roadway. During the public information campaign leading up to the referendum, the county government published brochures stating that the toll roads would become free once their construction costs had been recouped, but the tolls were not removed after the tollways were paid off. In 1989, The Bangles performed at

Hardy Toll Road - Misplaced Pages Continue

1216-475: The respective bridges as well as many other highway projects. As Jacksonville continued to grow, the tolls created bottlenecks on the roadway. In 1988, Jacksonville voters chose to eliminate all the toll booths and replace the revenue with a ½ cent sales tax increase. In 1989, the toll booths were removed, 36 years after the first toll booth went up. In Scotland , the Scottish Parliament purchased

1254-548: The state highway system, reusing the Loop ;8 number, on May 7, 1969. Because the proposed route had been referred to locally as the Outer Belt, and Harris County used similar nomenclature for segments of the route, the designation was changed to Beltway 8 on July 31, 1969. It is the only state highway loop to bear the "Beltway" designation. The beltway's construction was done in a piecemeal fashion, beginning with

1292-409: The switch to all-electronic tolling. All drivers must now use an EZ TAG to access the toll road. The road is named for nearby Hardy Street, which makes up the frontage roads for the toll road in two locations: between Spring Railroad Yard and FM 1960, and between Greens Road and Crosstimbers Road. A large portion of the southern segment resembles Austin's Mopac Expressway in that an active line of

1330-484: The tolls were increased or felt to be unreasonably high, informal shunpiking by individuals escalated into a form of boycott by regular users, with the goal of applying the financial stress of lost toll revenue to the authority determining the levy. One such example of shunpiking as a form of boycott occurred at the James River Bridge in eastern Virginia . After years of lower-than-anticipated revenues on

1368-500: The tollway in the hands of HCTRA. On September 3, 2007, the toll increased by $ 0.25 system wide with some exceptions. On February 26, 2011, construction of the main lanes between I-69/US 59 (Eastex Freeway) and US 90 (Crosby Freeway) was completed, thus completing the entire beltway system. This section was originally set to be completed between 2007 and 2009, but funding issues delayed its completion. The project cost $ 400 million (equivalent to $ 552 million in 2023 ) and

1406-476: Was completed ahead of schedule and under budget. The new 13-mile (21 km) section has three lanes in each direction, and an EZ Tag , TxTag or TollTag will be required to access it. Almost 60 years had passed between the planning of Beltway 8 and the opening of the final section. On August 28, 2017, Hurricane Harvey caused flooding to the West Belt and caused damage near I-10. The entire route

1444-401: Was opened in 1982. The TTA, however, turned down the opportunity to improve the entire beltway as well, leaving Harris County to upgrade the road to freeway standards. However, Harris County could not afford to build and maintain a freeway from its general fund. In September 1983, county voters approved a referendum by a 7–3 margin to release up to $ 900 million in bonds to create two toll roads,

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