TxDOT to vote Thursday to take down tolls
The fate of El Paso’s only toll lanes on the Border Highway is up for discussion Thursday.
In June, the Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority voted to remove them. The decision is now in the hands of the Texas Transportation Commission, the governing board of the Texas Department of Transportation.
Removing the toll lanes has been talked about in the past.
Democrat State Rep. Joe Pickett, from El Paso, has been a driving force in trying to get rid of them.
According to a statement, Pickett has helped make amendments to the Sunset Bill- in an effort to try and cut costs for TxDOT.
Pickett said tolls, like the ones on the Border Highway, are unnecessary.
A full trip costs 90 cents, a shorter trip costs 40 cents.
The CRRMA reports, from when the toll lanes opened in 2014, to 2017, they earned $927,076.
Operating costs, which include operations and insurance, come out to $1,678,715.
That’s a loss of $751,639.
On average, there are fewer than 2,000 transactions a day.
To watch the live stream of the full meeting at 8 a.m. El Paso time click here.