The North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) maintains and operates toll roads, bridges and tunnels in the North Texas area. Functioning as a political subdivision of the State of Texas under Chapter 366 of the Transportation Code, the NTTA is empowered to acquire, construct, maintain, repair and operate turnpike projects; to raise capital for construction projects through the issuance of Turnpike Revenue Bonds; and to collect tolls to operate, maintain and pay debt service on those projects.
The NTTA is governed by a nine-member Board of Directors, two appointed by each of the four counties in its service area, and one appointed by the Texas Governor. It is a non-profit entity. It performs many of the same functions as the Texas Department of Transportation, but is limited solely to facilities that it operates for revenue.
The Authority's mission statement reads: "To provide a fiscally sound system of innovative toll facilities, services and solutions that improves the mobility, quality of life and economy of the North Texas region."
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NTTA began in 1953 as a state agency, the Texas Turnpike Authority (TTA).
TTA would begin construction on the state's first toll road, the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike, in 1955 and would open the road in 1957. Original plans were for the bonds on the Turnpike to be retired in 1995; however, the bonds were retired in 1977 (17 years ahead of schedule) and tolls were then removed from the road, which the next year was officially designated as Interstate 30.
NTTA's oldest existing toll road, the Dallas North Tollway, would begin construction in 1966 and open its first segment (from Interstate 35E to Interstate 635) in 1968. The Tollway (as it is popularly known) has (along with general Dallas-area growth) expanded continually northward, opening extensions in 1987, 1994, and most recently in 2008.
TTA started construction in 1977 on its first toll bridge, the 2.5-mile (4.0 km) Mountain Creek Lake Bridge, which would open in 1979. The bridge spans Mountain Creek Lake in the southwestern Dallas County city of Grand Prairie.
TTA's only project outside the area, the Jesse Jones Memorial Bridge across the Houston Ship Channel, would start construction on the 2.0-mile (3.2 km) bridge began in 1979 and open in 1982. TTA would later sell the bridge in 1994 to the newly-created Harris County Toll Road Authority.
TTA would cease as a state entity in 1997 with the creation of the current NTTA.
In August 2010, the NTTA faced criticism by replacing the only minority member of the board - making the nine-member board all white and all male.[1]
A multi-year audit released in October 2011 stated that the NTTA had inappropriate discussions with consultants while they were in the midst of bidding on lucrative Tollway contracts, as well as not having a firmly defined code of corporate ethics. [2]