Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority
ETC provided the system design and engineering for the Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority’s (FBCTRA) toll collection system for the Fort Bend Parkway Toll Road, which opened in August 2004, and for the Fort Bend Westpark Tollway, which opened in August 2005.
Fort Bend Parkway has 18 lanes, which include four express lanes, four EZ TAG-only lanes, eight ACM/EZ TAG lanes and two credit lanes. Fort Bend Westpark Tollway Extension is an all-electronic toll road and has eight open-road EZ TAG-only lanes.
ETC’s systems are implemented throughout FBCTRA facilities,
and ETC also provides ongoing maintenance and support through an
existing contract with Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA),
which operates and maintains the roads for FBCTRA.
An innovative operating model, FBCTRA’s Westpark Tollway connects seamlessly to HCTRA’s Westpark Tollway in more ways than one. Not only is it a seamless extension of the physical road, FBCTRA has contracted with HCTRA to provide operations and maintenance for its facilities. These services include complete customer service and violation enforcement operations as well as toll collection and maintenance operations.
- Open Road Tolling – FBCTRA’s Westpark Tollway is a continuation of the nation’s first all-electronic toll road, HCTRA’s Westpark Tollway. FBCTRA’s extension provides significant mobility and congestion relief for the rapidly growing suburbs west of Houston.
- Leveraging an Existing Transponder Population – The greater Houston area has a population of more than 1.9 million EZ TAGs. By contracting with HCTRA to provide services, FBCTRA had immediate access to a large population of potential customers, and HCTRA’s customers were able to use FBCTRA’s facilities without having to open additional accounts or use a different transponder. Additionally, customers who use both facilities have a single point of contact for all their customer service or violation questions.
- Effective Operations – Rather than implement a full-scale operations staff for toll collection activities, FBCTRA is able to provide its customers with excellent services by using HCTRA’s already established operations.
About Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority. The Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority (FBCTRA), located in Sugar Land, Texas, has completed two key county mobility projects, the Fort Bend Parkway and the Fort Bend Westpark Tollway.