Information AboutWestpark Tollway |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT WESTPARK TOLLWAY | |
| toll roads in texas | |
| transportation in houston | |
| fort bend county, texas | |
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The Westpark Tollway is a Limited-access Toll Road serving western Houston , Texas and eastern Fort Bend County . Construction on the facility began in 2001 , and portions of the road were opened to traffic in May 2004 . Construction of the roadway was completed in August 2005 . The Westpark Tollway begins at Post Oak Boulevard in the Uptown District (best known for the Galleria shopping mall) and runs approximately 20 miles west to Texas State Highway 99 (Grand Parkway). The Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) and the Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority (FBCTRA) operate the Westpark Tollway jointly. The 14-mile HCTRA section is simply named Westpark Tollway; however, the 6-mile section of the toll road operated by the FBCTRA is named Fort Bend Westpark Tollway . There are two major interchanges in between: the Southwest Freeway ( US 59 ) and the West Sam Houston Tollway ( Beltway 8 ), along with several minor interchanges. The tollway takes its namesake from Westpark Road, an east-west secondary artery running through a mostly industrial area. The Right-of-way inside its boundaries was acquired by Harris County from a Southern Pacific railroad right-of-way that abandoned in 1992 (originally, the right-of-way was purchased by METRO ) and disposed of the tracks in the mid-to-late 1990's. The original proposal for for METRO to construct a high-occupancy vehicle lane to connect with METRO's Park and Ride facilities until the Harris County Toll Road Authority decided on a 50/50 split (the Westpark Tollway's right of way is 50 feet; another 50 feet is allocated to METRO for a future rail line. The rail line's construction phase has met with opposition from residents and businessowners on the Richmond Avenue corridor since July 2005 where METRO has considered routing the westside light rail line from METRORail 's Wheeler Station platform. It runs roughly parallel and to the south of Westheimer Road ( FM 1093 ) in Harris County and concurrently with FM 1093 in Fort Bend County. The Westpark Tollway is the first and, so far, only fully electronic toll road in the United States. There are no tollbooths or toll collectors along both sections of the route. The only way to legally drive on the road is by using a transponder unit known as an EZ TAG attached to a vehicle's windshield. This transponder communicates with overhead sensors to deduct tolls from the user's toll account. EXIT LIST |
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