KHOU 11 reporter Anayeli Ruiz introduced viewers to a complaint that sounds almost made up until you picture the map: homeowners in a Cypress-area neighborhood say the only way to leave home and come back is to merge onto State Highway 99, the Grand Parkway, and that means paying a toll every single time.
The message landed in Ruiz’s voicemail box from resident Nancy Wakeford, who said bluntly that “every time we leave our neighborhood, we have to get on 99 and pay a toll,” adding that there is “no other way in or out,” and that the costs are hitting them “hundreds of dollars a month.”
That line – no other way in or out – is what turns this from a minor annoyance into something that feels like a trap, because people don’t mind paying tolls to take a faster route across town, but they don’t expect to pay tolls as a basic requirement to buy groceries, take kids to school, or go to work…