Westpark Tollway, Houston, TX. Unconstitutional?

[trof]

Miz t. and I drove to Houston to meet our daughter and family, flying in from Boston to Hobby Airport in Houston.
We'd take them from there to an RV rental place in west Houston.
They'd pick up the motorhome they'd reserved and follow us out I-10 to a family reunion in Weimar, TX.

We checked in to the motel near Hobby the night before our daughter's arrival.
Using google maps and a GPS I looked to see how to get from Hobby to the RV place.
Every possible search and combination put us on a toll road.
Westpark Tollway.
OK, no problem, EXCEPT...

Looking up the toll (to see what change I'd need) I discovered that the Westpark Tollway
is ELECTRONIC ONLY!

"The Westpark Tollway is the first fully electronic toll road in the United States. There are no tollbooths or toll collectors along either section of the route. The only way to legally drive on the road is by using a transponder unit attached to a vehicle's windshield (either HCTRA's EZ TAG, NTTA's TollTag, or TxTAG). These transponders communicate with overhead sensors to deduct tolls from the user's toll account. Prior to the Westpark Tollway's 2004 opening, HCTRA ran ads on TV, radio and print, stating that the tollway is "EZ Tag Only: No Cash, No Coins, No Exceptions!"

I don't know a damn thing about Houston highways, but there seemed to be no way to get from where I was to where I needed to be without driving on that tollroad.

Miz t. said "Call the Highway Patrol".
BRILLIANT!

Their website gave a number for travelers.
I called it.
Talked to a trooper (I guess?) and explained my predicament.
He said "No problem. Just go ahead and they'll send you a bill for the tolls. You won't get a ticket or a fine or anything."
Great.

Today I got the TOLL VIOLATION INVOICE from the Harris County Toll Road Authority.
$5.25 in tolls
$33.00 for "violations".

This just isn't right.
Especially given the information I got from the 'helpful' state trooper.

And then I whipped out a dollar bill from my wallet.
Yep, it still says "This note is legal tender for ALL debts, public and private."
They'll probably tell me 'yep, it's legal tender to pay the fine.'


I've sent the toll road authority an email explaining just what I posted here.
I'll gladly pay the tolls.
Haven't heard back yet.

[liberal N proud]

1. Now that really is highway robbery

It would not surprise me if they refuse cash payment for the fine.

[trof]

20. I have 2 complaints:

1. The highway patrol gave me wrong information.
2. There's no way that I was able to pay the toll at the time it was incurred.

[itsrobert]

2. Dallas does the same thing

I have California plates and its been over 7 months since I was on the toll roads for about 10 times in a 30 day span. No bills yet.

[tammywammy]

5. They can't run out of state plates.

But you should call the NTTA and I'm sure they could look it up and you can pay then.

[itsrobert]

8. I'll get right on it

Nah, having to drive on the George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush toll rolls is payment enough.

[tammywammy]

11. I was incorrect. NTTA uses a third-party vendor to get out of state plate information. n/t

[trof]

14. They sure can in Houston. Got Alabama plates.

Sent me a nice B&W pic of the back of my mini van and plate.

[tammywammy]

16. NTTA is separate from the tollway authority in Houston.

And I was incorrect. They contract with a third-party vendor to get out of state plates.

I recommend calling them and seeing if they'd waive the violation fee if you pay the tolls immediately.

[Thinkingabout]

3. This a problem but i guess you was not told Westpark street without any toll runs parallel to

Several sections of Westpark toll road. I also usually like to "avoid" toll roads or highways when selecting my route. I know of others who have gotten confused and got onto Westpark Toll Road only to pay fines, there is not any manned booths on this toll road.

[elleng]

4. Good you wrote,

and if they return with something like 'You STILL owe the $33,' REFUSE!!! (JMHO!)

[KamaAina]

6. The Golden Gate Bridge is now electronic-only as well.

But they just run the plates and send you a bill. No fines.

[elehhhhna]

7. call hctra. they're pretty chill. they'll cancel the 33.00

[TexasTowelie]

9. Make certain that you pay that bill.

I know that if you have a large amount of unpaid tolls and are stopped on the NTTA they can impound your vehicle immediately. I don't know the situation in Houston, but I believe that the Legislature may have passed a bill that allows all of the toll road authorities to do the same thing.

[trof]

10. I ain't never plannin' to return to Houston ever again.

[Recursion]

12. No spot transaction entity is required to accept cash

That's not what "legal tender for all debts public and private" means legally, oddly enough. If it's a spot transaction (that is, the debt only exists after the transaction is agreed to), the creditor party is not required to accept cash.

Now, the fine is not a spot transaction, so you can send them loose pennies or dollar bills oragamied into pigs if you want.

[Lancero]

18. Not really...

I can't remember what state this was in, but some person decided to pay a ticket with dollar bills folded into pigs. (symbolic - Paying the pigs fine with pigs) but they forced him to unfold all of them before they accepted the payment.

[ananda]

13. Oh dear.

You did not have to use Westpark Tollway to get where you were going.

What you could do is use the map search in a different way. I tried it with MapQuest. I put Westpark Tollway, Houston, TX in the search box and hit enter. Then I zoomed out two or three times and I could see all kinds of alternative routes.

I'm from Houston, and I always hated using tolls; so I would find other ways. But I tell you, these tollways can be tricky and Texas is a huge culprit in trying to move you onto tolls even when there's another road right there.

[trof]

17. Using the tools at hand, that was my only option.

I tried dragging the google route to another street and it always wound up back on the tollway sooner or later.

AND I CALLED THE DAMN TEXAS HIGHWAY PATROL to ask for help.
Which they kindly provided.
And it was wrong.

[Igel]

15. There's pretty much no place that you can drive to that *requires* toll roads.

However, often it's really irritating and can take you out of your way.

I know people who are in the military and their military ID makes them exempt from tolls. But I don't know of a "free EZTag" option for them, so they have to stop and show their ID at the tollbooth.

BTW, it's not just the Westpark that has something like this problem. There are a lot of exits/entrances on the Hardy Toll Road that require electronic automated payment. Posslbly all--they've been getting rid of having to pay somebody to sit there for hours with little to no traffic.

[trof]

19. See post 17 above.

You're in a strange town.
It's a big city.
You have no idea how to get from point A to point B.
You use the 'modern tools' to find a route.

I guess I need to go back to a comprehensive paper street map and a magic marker.