Esther Trattner By Esther Trattner

While owning and operating a new car costs an average $8,849 a year, according to AAA, some drivers have it far worse.

Gasoline taxes can be steep where you live, or tolls along your regular route can cost you hundreds of dollars a year.

That might be the case if your commute includes one of these most expensive toll roads in the U.S. We count them down — to America's priciest parkway, with the highest cost per mile. Toll data is from the Federal Highway Administration.

10. I-70 Mountain Express Lane

I-70 Eastbound Mountain Express Lane
Bidgee / Wikimedia Commons
I-70 Eastbound Mountain Express Lane

  • Maximum passenger vehicle fee: $5.46
  • Average toll per mile: $0.42

This 13-mile toll road leads eastbound drivers through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado from Empire to Idaho Springs.

On a normal day, this expensive toll road is just a shoulder of I-70. But on weekends and major holidays, it’s opened up as a lane to ease traffic.

Drivers can reach their destination without using the pay lane, but it’ll definitely take longer.

9. Texas Highway 242 Connector

Massive flyover ramps at I-45 southbound towards Galveston
Lars Plougmann / Flickr
SH 242 connector is a flyover ramp, like these ones at I-45 southbound towards Galveston

  • Maximum passenger vehicle fee: $14.50
  • Average toll per mile: $0.48

The traffic near the Houston suburb of Montgomery, Texas, was getting so bad the state decided to build a giant ramp connecting the north freeway directly to State Highway 242.

Residents were initially thrilled that they were getting a "flyover ramp" that would solve terrible traffic tie-ups — until they realized it would be the first tolled ramp in the Lone Star State.

A few years since its installation, the connector ramp saves so much on gas and time that daily commuters have mostly come around to the idea of paying the "convenience toll."

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