The longest free section of main lanes is on the north side of Houston, stretching from Ella Boulevard east to Mesa Drive.

Starting at the north end of the Sam Houston Ship Channel Bridge, and moving in a clockwise direction, mainlane counts are as follows: A number of cameras are located at toll booths to record license plate information to a database and send a ticket for toll violations via mail.

The beltway's construction was done in a piecemeal fashion, beginning with the opening of West Belt Drive and Roark Road, two surface streets, in the mid-1970s.

Efforts to construct a bridge over the Houston Ship Channel were stymied until the Texas Turnpike Authority (TTA) was able to do so as a toll facility in the late 1970s.

As a result, the section of Beltway 8 from I-10 to SH 225 on the east side of Houston was removed from the state highway system on July 24, 1978.

The TTA, however, turned down the opportunity to improve the entire beltway as well, leaving Harris County to upgrade the road to freeway standards.

In September 1983, county voters approved a referendum by a 7–3 margin to release up to $900 million in bonds to create two toll roads, the Hardy Toll Road (basically a reliever for I-45 between downtown Houston and Montgomery County) and the Sam Houston Tollway, which would be the main lanes of the Beltway.

Shortly after the referendum, the Harris County Commissioners Court created the HCTRA to administer the construction and operation of the new road system.

Then-County Judge Jon Lindsay is generally credited with shepherding the referendum from its infancy to its passage, along with the implementation of the plan for the roadway.

[10] On July 7, 1990, a ceremony, called Road Party II, took place for the opening of the section of Beltway 8 between I-45 (North Freeway) and US 290, the final segment.