AUSTIN (KXAN) — Get ready to pay more next year to drive on Central Texas’ toll roads.

The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority approved this week rate increases that will go into effect in 2019.

The minimum toll rate for the MoPac express lanes will go up from 25 cents to 30 cents.

For 183A and 290 East, the rates will go up by 1 to 3 cents for every time you pass a toll gantry. For SH71, the rate will increase by 2 cents.

You can see the price hike for each tolling point here.

The short answer behind the toll increases for 183A, 290 and SH71 is inflation.

“Now, this is very similar to a lot of utilities today, water, sewer, so forth,” said Mike Heiligenstein, Executive Director of the CTRMA.

He said instead of picking a random number every few years, it made more sense to tie the price increase to the consumer price index.

“What we don’t want to do is jump the rates in any one year, and have a few years off and jump them again by like a quarter,” Heiligenstein said.

“None of these projects have any tax support. It’s all based upon the people that use them. When you’re doing that, you have to make sure it’s sustainable,” he added.

The MoPac express lane is a little different.

“What that is tied to more than anything else right now is the future project of 183 North,” Heiligenstein said.

The minimum toll rate for 183 North will be 50 cents. To match that, MoPac’s rate will increase by 5 cents each year until it reaches 50.

“I think it’s crazy,” said Bill Fox who uses the MoPac express lane every day to get home.

“I live here in Round Rock, and I work in south Austin,” he said.

Fox told KXAN he spends about $80 a month on tolls because he said, “I don’t want to spend an hour and a half driving in traffic. That’s what it would be if I didn’t take MoPac express lane and just took MoPac, or if I took I-35, it would probably be an hour and a half.”

Using the express lane, his commute home takes about 30 minutes.

And MoPac isn’t the only place where people pay to shorten their commute.

“Right now I’m spending almost $100 a month on tolls,” Andy Hogue who lives off of 183A said.

Many people also said for MoPac, the price hike is concerning because they don’t think the express lane has alleviated congestion.

If the price keeps increasing while traffic issues remain, some said they might reconsider using the toll roads.

“You don’t think 5 cents, but when you start adding it up every day, every week for a year, it’ll add up,” Fox said.