Toll road increase for the New Year

At midnight, tolls on the Fort bend Parkway and the Westpark Tollway went up.

The toll rate for cars and pickups on the Fort Bend Parkway is now a $1.25 instead of $1. The rate on the Westpark Tollway will cost drivers 60 cents instead of 50 cents.

The increase is blamed on inflation as well as the need to re-establish the toll authority's rainy day fund that was depleted following Hurricane Ike when tolls were suspended.