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
- 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
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."
Stephanie Asymkos