I noticed some toll road signs on 114 tonight North of DFW near where 121 and 114 merge. This has always been a free road, but apparently not any more. I detest toll roads. 161 goes right by my house but I never get on it because it's a toll road. At one time 161 was a free road, but they connected it to George Bush pkwy and extended the tolls to parts of 161 that were previously free. Now it is only free from 183 to Belt Line. I guess politicians have to get their kick backs somewhere. It's bad enough to take public land, use tax payer money to build new roads, and then charge tax payers to use it, but it's down right criminal to put tolls on roads that were already there, free to use, and built with tax payer money.

That's my rant but here is my question. I don't know anything about adding tolls to 114 aside from what little I read tonight. Apparently only two lanes each way will be toll lanes, but that area is about 6 lanes wide each way. Does anyone know which two lanes are the tolls? If you are in the right lane coming in from 114 and need to get to the left 3 lanes to take 360, how can you avoid crossing the toll designated ones?

I think 114 will soon be yet another road that I have to avoid. I need to find out who is responsible for trying to convert every highway in DFW to a toll road.

The toll lanes are designed for the Southlake folks who are willing to pay a bit to avoid the cluster that is the north airport area. The entrance west bound is just before the airport & the exit is just before Kimball - there are no exits in between. The toll price will vary depending on traffic flow and time of day. You can get through that whole section without paying a toll if you want.

I guess you could move to Tarrant County. Far less toll roads here.

Wrong about Tarrant County. All new highway construction in Tarrant County will have some form of toll road incorporation. I-35W, Chisholm Trail, Hwy 170, Hwy 360, North Tarrant Express (820/183)...all underconstruction or planned.

I would think that the added costs in design, construction and maintenance of the bridges, ramps and additional infrastructure (including follow-on maintenance) would negate the revenue gained from the tolls. IMO on 35W and 820/183, they could have used the existing ROW and added 2-3 lanes in each direction and modernized the interchanges and they would have improved flow 10 fold. Instead, now we will have additional driver confusion on how to enter the road way (free vs. toll) and the additional clutter of all the extra overpasses and ramps.

I would also add that if the toll roads as part of the 35W and North Tarrant express were actual 'express' lanes, I could live with it (limited ingress/egress to get you through the congestion). But current design has nearly the same number of ingress/egress points as the free lanes.

For example, if you could only get on the 820/183 toll roads at the I-35W interchange, MAYBE at Hwy 377, then again at the 820/121/183 interchange and then at the 183/121 split, then I would be more open the the toll/free concept.

They are putting the toll lanes in there so that they can get private funding to help build the rest of the highway. And they are expected to be much faster because people don't like paying tolls on the roads. I personally have no problem with them making all the highways around here a 3 free/ 2 toll system and I'm glad there are people who will refuse to take them.

I already live in Tarrant county, but just barely. So I get to pay taxes to both Dallas and Tarrant every year. Glad to hear you can avoid the tolls and still use the road if you want, but it still isn't clear to me which lanes to avoid. Hopefully they make it obvious so people don't accidentally incur road fees.

I enter at Freeport and take 360.

I wouldn't mind the toll system quite as much if I could pay a flat annual fee for unlimited access. Then it would feel like a privilege to use the roads rather than nickle and diming me each time. It isn't logical, but I would be willing to pay more for unlimited use. Would people rather pay a monthly rate to make unlimited phone calls or pay for each call?

Most places I go have several routes that I can choose that are basically the same time and distance, so I can avoid tolls easy enough, but it still takes away an option.

As for tolls improving traffic, I thought "The Toll Road" in Dallas was rather congested during rush hour.

If I was a daily commuter who had to fight gridlock traffic each day, I would gladly take a toll road to avoid it, assuming the toll road was moving. Luckily I don't have that problem.

[This message has been edited by andrew99 (edited 2/22/2014 3:06p).]

Looks to me the lanes are already there, just not open yet. They are in the median area now. Looks like you get on near 26 and goes until Freeport pkwy.

going west it's a left exit to the toll lanes just past the airport exit. They immediately go behind a concrete barrier, so you won't end up there accidentaly.

Wow didn't know about the 35w toll situation

The new toll road from downtown fort worth to clebuerne will be useless.

Useless in what sense?

OP I enter at Freeport and go west every day on 114. The entrance to the new toll lanes is on the far left and is clearly marked. You won't accidentally get on them.

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Useless in what sense?

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Useless in the sense that nobody is going to use it and the rest of DFW is having to help pick up the tab through higher tolls to help pay for it.

FW has been hell-bent on building that road for decades thinking that it would spur development south of Mira Vista. While some new neighborhoods may spring up I don't think overall that the demographics of that area (with the exception of MV and a few others) are going to be willing to pay the tolls. For the most part the people that can afford it live north of 20 and they are close enough in to not really need it.

I don't think that's true at all. Getting from SW Fort Worth to downtown can be a nightmare at times. That tollway is already spurring growth and raising home prices towards Godley and Cleburne.