One of the many Texas Engineering Landmarks in celebration of Texas ASCE’s Centennial: 1913-2013 “Engineering a Better Texas.” Visit them all!
NOTE: The coordinates take you to the east end of the Tollway at the I-69 Interchange, 19 miles means a lot of viewing potential! Describe your own interaction with the Tollway in your visit log!
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WESTPARK TOLLWAY -- THE NATION'S FIRST ALL-ELECTRONIC TOLL ROAD
ASCE TEXAS OUTSTANDING CIVIL ENGINEERING ACHIEVEMENT (OCEA) 2006
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The Westpark corridor has a storied history as a transportation possibility. Originally on the books in the 1950s as the location of what is now Interstate 69/U.S. Highway 59 (Southwest Freeway) before developers lured it south to serve Sharpstown, the Westpark corridor has dreamed of tollway, highway, rail, even a monorail, and back to toll again.
The first time a toll road was mentioned was in a 1979 survey of several routes by the Texas Turnpike Authority – which led to the construction of the Hardy Toll Road in Northern Harris County by HCTRA. A heavy rail line along the corridor was floated in the 1980s, but failed to win voter approval, along with a monorail that was ended with Mayor Kathy Whitmire in 1991. Another commuter rail idea ended as METRO purchased the corridor and planned to run trains, but reversed itself and floated plans for a reversible high occupancy vehicle and bus transit lane to supplement the Southwest Freeway. The tracks were torn out in the mid-1990s. In 1999, HCTRA and METRO reached an agreement for half of the 100-foot (30 m) right-of-way to go towards a toll road run by HCTRA and the other half for use by METRO for light rail – an unlikely at present prospect, still lacking funding.
As for the Tollway, the Westpark Tollway has become a vital east-west corridor for the greater Houston area -- home to the highest concentration of EZ TAG customers.
In itself a marvel of coordination: the project called for 38 separate construction contracts, over 300 complex utility relocations, and the use of a General Engineering Consultant to manage more than 30 firms from practically all areas of civil engineering.
The primary engineering challenge was, unsurprisingly, maintaining cost-effectiveness within the restrictive confines of a very limited right-of-way and project specifications to allow for four lanes of traffic. Designing for limited right-of-way meant many ramps and connectors were constructed below natural grade to reduce expenses and numerous retaining walls were used to accommodate restrictions of depressed roadways.
The more than 300 utility conflicts were accommodated by a range of solutions: conduits through bridges for utility companies; conduit installations between drill shafts; paving over existing utilities; and constructing common utility bridge structures for multiple utility companies.
The foot print squeeze play was a frequent caveat: in many locations the right-of-way is one foot from the back of the traffic rail. This meant in some areas, sound walls had to be constructed on top of the concrete traffic rail.
A joint venture between Harris and Fort Bend counties, the Westpark Tollway is technically two sections. The 14-mile (23 km) Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) section is simply named Westpark Tollway; the six-mile (10 km) section of the toll road operated by the Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority (FBCTRA) is the Fort Bend Westpark Tollway.
As a tollway, the Westpark Tollway also broke ground, becoming the first fully electronic toll road in the United States. There are no tollbooths or toll collectors along either section of the route. The only way to legally drive on the road is by using a transponder unit attached to a vehicle's windshield (either HCTRA's EZ TAG, NTTA's TollTag, or TxTAG). These transponders communicate with overhead sensors to deduct tolls from the user's toll account. [Those without tags are photographed and tracked down, receiving bills with handling surcharges in the mail.]
Construction on the facility began in 2001 and portions of the road were opened to traffic in May 2004. The initial length of tollway was completed in August 2005.
In addition to the Texas ASCE’s Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award, the Westpark Tollway received the 2005 International Bridge, Tunnel, and Turnpike Association’s Toll Excellence Award for Technology and its overall President’s Award for its cashless (EZ tag) collection system. (http://ibtta.org/technology-awards )
FURTHER READING:
Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) (
visit link)
Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority Westpark Tollway (
visit link)
Westpark Tollway (wikipedia) (
visit link)
TexasFreeway.com “Westpark Tollway” (
visit link)
Texas AARoads “Westpark Tollway” (
visit link)
The Harris County Toll Road Authority Receives Top International Awards for The Westpark Tollway Project (9/30/05) (
visit link)