Tollway Drivers Beware: Fees Add Up Faster Than You May Realize

If you drive the Dallas toll roads on a regular basis, you may already know how much you are spending on tolls in a given week or month. If you have a toll tag, have you looked at your online statement lately?

I am guilty of not paying attention to how much I spend on the toll roads. I am fortunate that I don’t have to drive often or long distances. Could it really cost that much during those few times when I need to use the tollway?

I actually left my toll tag at home one day and recently received an invoice for the driving I did. It was a huge wake-up call for me. Just going five miles to dinner on my birthday (10 miles round trip) cost nearly $6. If I would have had my toll tag, it would have been closer to $3, but that still seems pretty high to me for the distance we were going. Without a toll tag, it costs $2.28 just to take the closest exit to my house. That’s almost $5 just to start and end my trip, and that doesn’t count all the in-between tolls.

According to the North Texas Tollway Association website, the cost to drive the tollway is 15.3 cents per mile with a toll tag and about 23 cents per mile without a toll tag. If you drive 41 miles, which is the distance from my house to DFW airport, it costs about $6 ($12 round trip) with a toll tag and nearly $10 ($20 round trip) without a toll tag.

Keep in mind you still have to pay for your gas, too. My 14-year-old car gets nearly 30 miles to the gallon. A trip to the airport is 82 miles from my house. That’s about 2.5 gallons of gas. At $3.50 a gallon, that’s $8.75 one way or $17.50 round trip. Add that to my $12 round trip cost on the tollway and that’s about how much it costs for my family of three to eat at one of our local restaurants.

Now, I’m not telling you to stop driving on the tollway. I will definitely be curbing my tollway habit slightly, but even I will have to drive on a toll road from time to time. Just pay close attention to the tolls you are paying – especially if you have a toll tag. Most toll tag users do not pay attention to exactly how much they are spending to drive on those roads.

Be sensible and do the math. Can you take a different route or an earlier/cheaper exit? It may pay to find out. I just paid $72 in toll bills for my husband who does not have a toll tag and only uses the tollway for job interviews. Trust me. It adds up fast.