In the next 20 years, plans call for building an estimated $26.4 billion worth of new highway and toll road projects, according to figures from the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG). Determining whether those projects will be toll roads or non-toll highways is part of a multi-agency planning effort that takes projects from the drawing board to ribbon cutting.

 

The planning process spans many years from identification of a corridor to the end of construction. As part of that process, regional and/or state officials evaluate each corridor individually for its potential financial feasibility as a toll road.  Toll road funding shortens the time required to open a major road in the fast-growing North Texas region, which adds more than 100,000 new people each year.

 

But before the NTTA or any other toll road agency can begin detailed work on a corridor, it must be designated as a toll road by the Regional Transportation Council, the policymaking body of the NCTCOG. That designation is made with the approval of regularly updated mobility plans that outline road, rail and other transportation projects regionwide. The designation of a project as a toll road or non-toll highway takes many factors into consideration, including air quality planning, transportation funding streams and demographic forecasts. See details of the most recent plan, Mobility 2030, at http://www.nctcog.org/trans/mtp/2030/FinRec.pdf.

 

Another step in the process is market valuation, which establishes a value for the toll road project. The NTTA has the right of first refusal to build that project, based upon the results of the market valuation process.  Detailed project planning by the NTTA or another agency typically begins after market valuation, with construction typically following soon after.