Ad campaign markets SH 130 'roadmance'

MUSTANG RIDGE, Texas ( KXAN) - Advertising is one of the surest ways businesses can expose their product to potential consumers.

That holds true even if the product is the very road consumers drive on.

“We want folks to give us a try,” said Chris Lippincott with the State Highway 130 Concession Co .

An advertising company with the slogan “Can you love a road?” was launched on Oct. 1 and features television, radio, online and billboard ads promoting the new 41-mile stretch of toll road opening on Oct.24.

The new SH 130 will run from Mustang Ridge south to Seguin and aims to be an alternative to traveling through congestion on Interstate Highway 35.

The ad campaign labels it as a better way to travel from Austin to San Antonio.

Now all the road needs is customers.

“They’ll love the experience. It is a safe road and it is a beautiful ride through the country,” said Lippincott.

The television ads include a drive who professes his "roadmance” with SH 130 while another features a father reading his children a bedtime story about a highway with no traffic.

Eyebrows were raised last month when it was announced that the new toll road would allow a speed limit of 85 mph , something the state allowed for a $100 million payment.

The SH 130 CC invested $1.4 billion to build the road without any help from the taxpayers.

But even if they didn’t build it, the ads are an effort to convince drivers to buy it.

With a TxTag, it will cost drivers just more than $6 to ride the entire 41 miles.

Tolls will be split between the company and the state as part of the first-of-its-kind partnership in Texas.

As a part of the opening, drivers can ride toll-free from the opening on Oct. 24 through Nov. 11.