{
  "article_id": "A02",
  "canonical_path": "/research/financial-systems/why-texas-toll-roads-stay-tolled",
  "title": "Why Texas Toll Roads Stay Tolled: Where the Money Goes After Construction",
  "evidence_cutoff": "2026-09-02",
  "publication_status": "published; limitations disclosed",
  "direct_answer": "Original construction cost, road-level debt, system debt, legal tolling authority, and private concession rights are separate. Texas tolls continue when any controlling system obligation, statute, board decision, reserve requirement, capital program, or contract term remains.",
  "normalized_comparison": {
    "included_systems": [
      "Central Texas Turnpike System",
      "Grand Parkway System"
    ],
    "reason": "same TxDOT FY2025 source, fiscal year, denominator, and category schedule",
    "excluded": {
      "NTTA": "gross Trust revenue includes investment and other non-toll revenue",
      "HCTRA": "cash activity used several funding sources",
      "CTRMA": "audit-to-monthly category bridge remains open",
      "Fort Bend": "same-basis cash classification unavailable"
    }
  },
  "headline_facts": {
    "SH_288_termination_payment_usd": 1731730721,
    "HCTRA_FY2025_surplus_revenue_transfers_usd_m": 398.6,
    "NTTA_FY2025_long_term_debt_usd_m": 8519.0,
    "private_texas_managed_lanes_FY2025_project_distributions_usd_m": 553.0,
    "ferrovial_share_of_distributions_usd_m": 318.0,
    "payments_to_TxDOT_usd_m": 46.7
  },
  "open_items": [
    "Harris County final §284.008(d) order and project list",
    "SH 130 ultimate-equity chain",
    "CTRMA audit-to-monthly bridge",
    "FBGPTRA exact page-level headline extraction"
  ],
  "current_edition": {
    "date": "2026-10-16",
    "status": "prepared for review",
    "scope": "Targeted HCTRA transfer classification correction and workbook repair; original evidence cutoff retained.",
    "HCTRA_transfer_note": "The $398.6m total includes the annual mobility transfer and supports roads and related facilities outside the toll system. The annual component is not separately quantified here.",
    "HCTRA_transfer_source": {
      "url": "https://auditor.harriscountytx.gov/Portals/auditor/documents/ACFRs/TR%20Final%209-30-25.pdf",
      "location": "Note 10, printed page 46",
      "targeted_verification_date": "2026-10-16"
    },
    "workbook_recovery": {
      "complete_recovered_sheets": [
        "00_ReadMe",
        "01_System_Comparison",
        "02_TxDOT_100"
      ],
      "recoverable_formulas_preserved": 8,
      "other_sheets": "Six sourced reconstructions; original missing cells, formulas, annotations and schedule detail unavailable."
    }
  }
}