There it is.  On my left.  The on-ramp to the toll road 130.  Hmm...Like a dealer hooking a junkie,  the toll road has been  free for two weeks.  It's the same strategy.  Hook a person mentally, emotionally, and physically and they'll pay for something they THINK they need.   But I stand strong and keep to the right and patiently drive north on the slower 183 access road.  But I know I won't always be so resolute.  I'll get tired or have extra money in my checking account, and then bam, I'll be riding that asphalt crack pipe all the way home.

So will more and more urban Texans.  As construction costs have increased and cars get better gas economy, or for that matter, don't use gas at all in the case of electric vehicles, the state tax on fuel that puts money in TxDot's coffers for road construction becomes less and less.  The urban regions of Texas are having to look for alternate means to fund road construction in order to decrease congestion and increase traffic flow. 

In a state where lawmakers risk defeat by proposing new taxes, Texas has instead turned to private enterprise who will build toll roads for profit.  An excellent article on toll roads from the Texas Tribune quotes Senator John Carona, Republican, Dallas, as saying, "The day will surely come when, if you want to get from point A to point B, you’re not going to have a choice but to get on a toll road.  Well then, suddenly, a toll is just another tax. Let’s not kid one another.” 

Indeed.  If Texas does not raise taxes to maintain its current roads  and  to build new roads for it's increasing urban population, then Texas roads will be in the hands of private enterprise.  Why don't our Texas leaders do their job?  Should we give our leaders' jobs to private companies as well?  For now, we as drivers and consumers of raw asphalt have choices: when to go to work or leave work to avoid traffic, alternate routes maintained by the state that are "free", (what a concept right?), or to only use a toll road when in a hurry.  What will the future hold?  Is it going to cost me 20 dollars just to go to HEB one day because lawmakers yesterday punted the responsibility of road finance to private for profit companies?