Inflation? High gas prices? Supply-chain woes?
Welcome to the 1970s.
In July 1975, the price of admission to the Dallas North Tollway increased by a nickel to 25 cents. To justify the increase, authorities at the time said not enough cars were using the tollway to pay off the 1968 bond that funded the road’s $33.5-million construction.
Watch the WFAA story about the toll hike, from the William G. Jones Film and Video Archives at SMU, below.
The reporter estimates the price increase would come to about $25 a year for a daily commuter.
Twenty-five cents, adjusted for inflation, costs about $1.37 in 2022, and the toll is much higher now. Twenty-five dollars buys about 11 one-way trips between Oak Lawn and Belt Line, with a North Texas Toll Authority tag. The cost is now 20 cents per mile, and it’ll set you back $2.14 to get from Uptown to Addison with a toll tag. Back in 2015, the toll was 75 cents flat.
The toll cost 15 cents when the road opened in 1968 and increased to 20 cents in 1970.
One of the archives’ most-watched YouTube uploads is a June 1975 story that reports the tollway would be free by 2005. Whoopsie! Re-watch that classic as well as coverage of the nickel price increase below.
