TxDOT announces Harris County Toll Road Authority taking over TxTag collections for Houston, Austin

The Texas Department of Transportation announced in a Nov. 8 news release that the Harris County Toll Road Authority will take over management of the billing and customer services operations for all toll roads in the Houston and Austin regions.

What you need to know

On Nov. 6, TxDOT officials approved a new toll services agreement with HCTRA to manage toll collections for the Houston and Austin areas, ending the longstanding TxTag service provided through the state for those areas.

Established in 2006, TxTag was the toll service operated by TxDOT for collections on toll roads across the state; the service expanded to also support drivers on toll roads in Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma.

Current holders of a TxTag will still be able to use the tag on all toll roads; however, all TxTag accounts will be switched to EZ Tag accounts by Dec. 2, according to TxDOT. EZ Tags are used by HCTRA for collections, and anyone who does not have an existing TxTag in good standing will have to register to get an EZ Tag through HCTRA.

The details

The tolls roads switching to HCTRA's collections system include:

Austin

• SH 130

• SH 45 N

• SH 45 SE

• Mopac/Loop 1

Houston

• Grand Parkway

• Hwy. 249

The majority of in-person TxTag centers in Austin will remain open for customers following the completion of the transition, but the toll collections center at 2420 Ridgepoint Drive in Austin will close by mid-2025, according to TxDOT. However, customers will also be able to pay tolls at all Walmart, H-E-B, and other retail centers that partner with HCTRA for bill payment.

In their words

"HCTRA has successfully performed toll services as its core business for 40 years, and we expect them to deliver reliable, high-quality service for our Central Texas and Houston toll road customers," TxDOT Executive Director Marc Williams said. "This will bring significant savings and efficiency gain for the state of Texas. Customers could see less fees and it'll help keep tolls low going forward."

What else?

During the transition, TxDOT officials warned in the release that some customers may not be able to access their accounts for short periods of time. A system maintenance "blackout period" is currently scheduled from Nov. 15-18 to transition the majority of TxTag users to the EZ Tag collections system, during which customers will not be able to access TxTag accounts.

This article comes from ABC13's news partners at Community Impact Newspapers.