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Return of the tolls

For the past several weeks there’s been a battle between the governor and Legislature over tolls on the Massachusetts Turnpike.

Specifically, the tolls from Weston to West Stockbridge were the key sticking point in the transportation bond bill and state budget discussions.

Gov. Deval Patrick had insisted that a $500 million annual increase in transportation spending was unaffordable because the tolls on that section of the Pike are scheduled to come down in 2017.

And he said without those tolls there simply won’t be enough funding to meet future transportation obligations, especially after 2018 when yearly funding for roads and bridges is to jump to an additional $800 million annually.

Patrick wanted an even higher gas tax than the three cent per gallon increase the Legislature approved and he vetoed the legislators’ plan.

Legislative leaders replied that the law taking down those tolls in 2017 can be changed in the future and that there will be enough revenue to pay for the $800 million annual increase for transportation.

It then threw out Patrick’s higher gas tax proposal, stuck to its three cent gas tax increase and a dollar bump on the tax on a pack of cigarettes, and overrode the governor’s vetoes.  These increased taxes took effect this week.

Anyone who travels the turnpike could reasonably wonder what all the fuss is about, since the tolls between the New York State line and Rte. 291 in Springfield haven’t been collected since 1996 when then-Gov. William Weld ordered that they be eliminated.

Since then that stretch of the Pike has been a free ride.

But not much longer.

In a less publicized section of the new transportation law the Legislature ordered the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to devise and implement a fair and reasonable fee structure to resume charging tolls on the westernmost part of the MassPike between Exits 1 and 6.

In other words, whatever happens to the tolls west of Weston in 2017, Pike drivers are again going to pay tolls the whole length of the road and this is going to happen as soon as Mass DOT can develop the plan .

Pignatelli supports reinstatement of tolls

Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli (D-Lenox) and most of his colleagues supported the proposal.

He told the State House News Service he’s been advocating this for several years.

“In a state that needs revenue and a transportation system that definitely needs revenue, 1 through 6 are a loss leader”, he said.  “It’s foolish not to try to catch those revenues.”

In 1996 when Weld chopped those tolls and actually participated in the physical demolition of a toll booth many powerful leaders hailed from Western Massachusetts and the toll-free measure was thought to be a plus for the four Western counties.

But thinking has changed since then and Senate Majority Leader Stanley Rosenberg, an Amherst Democrat, was the legislator who added the reinstatement language to the bill this year.

Pignatelli told the news service that the road is exceptionally well maintained, especially in the winter, and that in the summer 80 percent of the users are from out-of-state.

He added, “When the Turnpike was built, one of the selling points to the taxpayers of Massachusetts was when the bonds are paid off, it will become a free way.”  But he noted there’s a cost to maintaining the road that never goes away.

It’s not known at this time what the reinstated tolls will be.

But it seems certain that whatever happens to the tolls in 2017, local residents and visitors alike will be paying tolls on the entire Massachusetts Turnpike at least until then and perhaps beyond.

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted by on August 1, 2013. Filed under Columns,Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
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