Skip to main content

Texas House votes to cap toll violation fees

The Texas House has unanimously passed a bill that caps total toll fines at US$73 every six months for any given customer, according to the Austin–American Statesman.
May 23, 2017 Read time: 1 min

The Texas House has unanimously passed a bill that caps total toll fines at US$73 every six months for any given customer, according to the Austin–American Statesman.

The amendment said toll violations would carry a US$6 administrative fee, capped at US$48 each six months for any given person, plus at most a US$25 civil penalty every half year. The amendment does not cap court costs associated with taking a toll violator to court, but it also stipulates that failure to pay tolls would be a civil offence, not a criminal violation as is the case now.

It would apply only to TxDOT tollways, which owns just five tollways in the state; Austin-area drivers could still, in theory, rack up larger fines on the 183-A, US 290 East and Texas 71 tollways, operated by the 5681 Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, as well as the MoPac Boulevard, US 183 and Texas 45 Southwest tollways that are now under construction.

Related Content

  • House proposes US$10.5 billion eight-month highway bill
    July 10, 2014
    The US Government House Ways and Means Committee is proposing a US$10.5 billion, eight-month transportation funding bill to push the debate over road and transit spending into the next Congress. The proposal, which calls for a temporary extension of current transportation funding levels until 31 May 2015, comes as lawmakers try to come up with a way to replenish the Department of Transportation's depleted Highway Trust Fund before a predicted August bankruptcy date. The traditional funding source fo
  • Smoothing the path to reducing traffic pollution
    October 22, 2014
    David Crawford reviews a new approach to traffic smoothing. A key objective for the Californian city of Bakersfield’s upgraded traffic operations centre (TOC), which opened in June 2014, is to help improve living conditions in a region with one of the worst air quality problems in the US. The TOC is speeding up the smoothing of traffic flows by delivering faster and better-informed traffic signal retiming and synchronisation.
  • Cautious welcome for US transportation bill extension
    July 31, 2015
    The US Senate's approval of the three-month MAP-21 extension and the ongoing work in the US Senate to pass a long-term surface transportation authorisation bill has received a cautious welcome from many US transportation authorities. Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) president and CEO Regina Hopper commented: “While the country is in desperate need of a long-term transportation initiative, we remain hopeful that the three-month extension will provide time for the House and Senat
  • Developer selected for Dallas Airport freeway project
    June 2, 2014
    Traffic relief is on the way for North Texas motorists who rely on SH 183, the airport freeway in Dallas and Tarrant counties. The Texas Transportation Commission has awarded a contract to Southgate Mobility Partners to develop much-needed improvements on up to 28 miles of roadway. Listed in the Texas Department of Transportation's 100 Most Congested Roadways, segments of SH 183 are used by nearly 170,000 vehicles daily.