Driving Down To Galveston For Your Cruise? Know Harris County Toll Road Fees/Fines.

Often Galveston cruisers bring up the topic of toll roads in and around Houston. As you might expect, some responses give great information and some give information that will result in a hefty fine or citation.

Much of our toll road system is tag only, no coins, no toll plazas, no kidding. They do not mail a bill out without a fine included. Our Constables are given the task to sit at the toll reader stations and watch for alarms when someone “runs” the reader. Then the citation book comes out. Not a good way to start your vacation.

Harris County Toll Road Authority does not mail out bills. Here is the exact quote from their page:

Toll payment is due at the time of each transaction on toll roads operated by Harris County.

Pay-by-mail is not an available payment option on toll roads operated by Harris County.

https://www.hctra.org/TollRoadInformation

There are three ways to use the EZ-Tag only sections of the tollway. Get an EZ-Tag, get a EZ-Tag Express (the best option for those that will seldom drive here) or get a TexTag.

HCTRA charges a $15 dollar fee for their tag. It, like the others are good statewide. The EZ-Tag Express Account can be setup online and works great if you are driving here for a vacation. You can set the account up with a small credit card deposit and your usage debits the account. The TexTag option is growing by leaps and bounds as they don’t charge for the tag. It also works statewide.

Please don't let anyone tell you our system here will "just mail you a bill." That's bad (and expensive) information.

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Bottom line is that using the toll roads in and around Houston very rarely will save you time. I've lived here all my life, go back to before the Gulf Freeway, the first freeway in the Houston area, now I 45 from downtown Houston to Galveston, and it will vary from hour to hour what the fastest way from Point A to Point B might be. Just use the "freeways" for a one time trip and you'll get where you are going!:cool:

Thank you for posting this. We use our North Texas Toll Assoc. Tag. I believe it is part of the EZ system because it can also be used at DFW. We take the Hardy because it is less stressful than 45.

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I don't like the TexTag, personally. They have made so many mistakes on my account and it's always such a hassle to get it fixed. Maybe that's why it's free! hahahaha

I don't like the TexTag, personally. They have made so many mistakes on my account and it's always such a hassle to get it fixed. Maybe that's why it's free! hahahaha

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