Dallas North Hikes Tolls

On Aug 1 the North Texas Tollway Auth (NTTA) is raising its mainline tolls on the Dallas North Tollway (DNT) from 50c to 75c for cash and to 60c for its electronic transactions which it calls TollTag. It is also abandoning a $2 monthly account fee for TollTag. This plus the 15c/toll differential in favor of ET is intended to increase the proportion of toll transactions that are conducted with transponders from the current 40% to 80% eventually. In addition the authority is opening more TollTag stores, allowing purchase on the internet (www.ntta.dst.tx.us) and beefing up its customer service center and marketing.

A higher ET usage is the centerpiece of the NTTA’s effort to end backups at its toll plazas, which in rush hours can get as much as 10mins. A Wilbur Smith study of the toll road looked at a variety of options for reducing congestion including larger toll increases, reconstruction of toll plazas, highway speed toll lanes, and an all ramp plaza toll system, and recommended as a first step the multi-faceted effort to increase toll lane throughput with more ET tag usage.

The Dallas North toll road has had its basic 50c mainline toll in place since 1982. Drivers going the full 34km (21mi) length of the toll road go through 3 plazas. The DNT was the first in the US to deploy electronic tolling, just over 10 years ago. It uses a read-only Amtech system.