Jan 29, 2007 6:10 pm US/Central
North Dallas Tollway Traffic Congestion Continues
by Sarah Dodd
DALLAS (CBS 11 News) ―
Drivers can expect a long commute Monday afternoon on the Dallas North Tollway because of new construction.
About 7,800 people use the toll road at Wycliff every day. At 40-years-old, this is the oldest stretch of the Tollway. The expansion of lanes and new booths are taking a toll on drivers.
Rob Estackes knows this stretch of the Tollway too well. His commute from Lancaster to North Dallas has taken him through the Wycliff toll plaza every weekday for the past two and a half years.
"It's gridlock that they created. It doesn't seem like there was any reason to create that much gridlock," Estackes said.
He's referring to the North Texas Tollway Authority. And since construction started, drivers have been sounding off in protest, and feeling the pain of a stalled commute.
"It normally takes about 45 minutes. This past Friday it took an hour and a half. Forty-five minutes was spent waiting to get through the toll booths at Wycliff," Estackes said.
Estackes isn't alone in his frustration. "I'm surprised there hasn't been some more road rage or something on the road. Because people are honking their horns and they are frustrated and you can see it in their face," Estackes said.
And the NTTA board has had hundreds of complaints.
"We agree the gridlock is unnecessary, and we're going to do something to fix it," said Allan Rutter, Executive Director of the North Texas Tollway Authority.
The NTTA's answer to the problem is a new program called "Zip Cash." Customers without toll-tags will be allowed to go through toll booths without paying, and when they've racked about $3 in charges, an invoice will be mailed.
NTTA snaps a picture of the cars license plate, and uses the information to not only send bills, but also solicit drivers to go ahead and get a toll-tag.
"Pushing people through the plaza at higher speeds is gonna really allow, we believe, to reduce a lot of that congestion," Rutter said.
But Etackes says the construction has added an extra five hours a week to his commute and thinks there shouldn't be a toll at all until construction is finished. "[It's] real frustrating. You're a wreck when you get home. You're a wreck when you get to work," says Estackes. "[There's] enough traffic without what they created."
There is more bad news. The construction project isn't scheduled to be complete until 2008, so the long commutes will continue.
(CBS 11 News)
