Truck Use on Texas Toll Roads

Metropolitan toll roads are a popular source of non-traditional funded highway investment, targeting automobile users. Toll rates have been traditionally derived from traffic and revenue (T&R) studies, which appear unable to accurately estimate truck demand even when a toll road offers an alternative route segment to interstate trucking. This paper examines the current failure of Texas toll road SH-130 to attract truckers from IH-35 in Austin, one of the most congested Texas corridors. CT-VCOST, a comprehensive vehicle operating cost toolkit, was used to calculate truck operating costs on both highways to investigate why few truckers are using the toll facility and whether the decision is based on toll rates or other factors.