That’s because new toll rates for NTTA toll roads also take effect Tuesday.

We’re covered these increases plenty, but here’s something to keep in mind: In addition to raising revenue, the new prices also reflect NTTA’s efforts to make what you pay at each “gantry” – the electronic monitors you pass under while rolling through a toll plaza – reflect a consistent per-mile charge across its network of highways.

It’s called distance-based tolling, and while it won’t be exact – for instance, you won’t be tracked by satellite and charged exactly by the mile – it will be more consistent.

“What you are going to be seeing is the distances between gantries actually affecting the price of the charge, rather than having a single price per gantry,” said spokeswoman Sherita Coffelt. “For instance on DNT [the Dallas North Tollway] you get four gantries [with four separate charges] and on the older system of tolling, there were five on the PGBT, so drivers there were paying more per mile.

“There are places are on the President George Bush Turnpike where the toll will actually decrease, and there are places on the DNT where tolls will go up much more than the average increase.”

For instance? The charge for vehicles that pass through the main plaza at Belt Line Road will drop from 70 cents to 46 cents for toll tag customers beginning tomorrow. On the other hand, drivers who drive through the Wycliff Avenue gantry on the DNT will see a jump from 70 cents to $1.26.

On average the new rates will jump to 14.5 cents a mile, up from 11 cents now.

Source: dallasnews.com

“I think it’s a good idea. I think it’s cool,” Dallas resident Erin Wiggins said. “Cool thing to do.”

A billboard campaign called “Recession 101 Billboards” features a series of lighthearted and clever quotes such as, “Chill (Hysteria feeds recessions.).”

The campaign’s creative director said an East Coast man who wants to remain anonymous paid him and his partner $20,000 to design a campaign to convince Americans we will get through this economy.

“He felt that everybody was getting so depressed about what was going on with the economy that people weren’t necessarily being rational anymore about it,” the campaign’s creative director Charlie Robb said. “It was just , ‘This is Armageddon this is the worst thing since the depression and everything is falling apart.’”

Clinical associate professor of psychiatry Dr. Tom Van Hoose calls its fascinating. Van Hoose teaches at the University of Texas Southwestern and has his own practice in Plano.

He said this “in your face” effort could prove very effective.

“Because how we think about things, even true adversity really determines, how we feel about them and, the kind of actions they take to do the best they can in their circumstances,” he said.

Dr. Van Hoose said the humor in them could be a powerful pour to the thought process, like “Don’t drink cheaper scotch. Drink slower.”

“When you combine humor with a positive thought, a lot of times folks look at their situation differently and they begin to feel not so bad or maybe there’s something I can do I haven’t thought.”

The billboards already have Desoto resident Theo Peugh thinking.

“I think he’s on to something, that there’s no reason to the whole woe is me mentality,” Peugh said. “We will survive, we will get through this.”

Source: news8austin.com

The $1.3 million project involves constructing new U-turn lanes to make it easier on motorists making left turns.

The concept works like this: Instead of having to wade through intersection traffic to make a left turn, motorists will turn right and then make a U-turn.

The arrangement, which traffic officials say is safer and will lessen backups, will be one of the first of its kind in North Texas.

Such intersections are common in Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey and other states. The Plano City Council approved the project this week.

Source: dallasnews.com