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BOSTON (WBZ) ― Toll prices on the Massachusetts Pike went up at the start of 2008. Now guess what? Just 2 weeks later, the tolls could be going up again!

Two Pike Board members told the Boston Globe that increases up and down the roadway are inevitable, because the numbers simply aren't adding up.

The Pike's roads and tunnels need tens of millions of dollars in repairs, and the board doesn't have enough money to pay for all those repairs; even with the toll hikes that went into affect on the first day of 2008.

The extra 25 cents at the Allston-Brighton Tolls and at the tolls in Weston, along with the extra 50 cents at the Harbor Tunnels, was supposed to provide nearly 50 million dollars for maintenance along a 138 mile stretch of the Mass. Turnpike.

However officials say that money is not enough.

Turnpike Board member, Mary Connaughton says debt from the Big Dig and deals negotiated over the years have hamstrung the Authority and are now taking a tool.

"All these factors have caused us to defer needed capitol improvement projects and something needs to be done," she said. "Unless there's a major structural change there will be some type of a toll increase. Maybe not this year, but certainly in the not too distant future" says Connaughton.

According to the MetroWest Daily News, the turnpike authority said they can only find $4 million in the Pike's budget for the $49 million worth of "new capital project needs" for the area of the highway east of Route 128.

Without more money from additional toll increases, they say many projects will have to be put on hold.

One project on the chopping block is a $1 million battery replacement project for the tunnel ventilation system in the Big Dig tunnels; another is $16 million worth of ceiling repairs to the Sumner Tunnel.

Construction of a $1 million Newton sound barrier would also be put on hold.

The Turnpike's chief engineer, Helmut Ernst, called the funding gap concerning, but told the newspaper, it doesn't pose any immediate safety threats.

"It obviously makes no sense for the directors of this board to do this as a public service and to be paying some advisory board $50,000 for expenses when they have no legal responsibility," Angelini said.

Turnpike members, Michael Angelini and Mary Connaughton say that toll increases must be considered immediately.

They have suggested a broad increase, or reinstating tolls from Exit 1 - West Stockbridge on the New York border, to Exit 6 - Springfield on the Turnpike.

Tolls between exit one and six were eliminated in 1996 following protests from Western Massachusetts residents, who complained that their toll money was funding the Big Dig; while their own highway projects were put on hold.

If those tolls are reinstated, you can be sure to expect more protests as this is the exact same thing they protested about in the past.


Commuters we talked to say enough is enough. If they're going to have pay more, they want to see some improvement for it.

"I think it's ridiculous," says Charlene Rooney of Natick. "If I am gonna pay that expense, then I want, you know some efficiency; and there's nothing but bottleneck after bottleneck. So I have a lot of issues with the Pike."

Another option being considered is to overhaul state transportation financing; and in doing so get billions of dollars debit from the Big Dig of the turnpike's books.

The announcement comes on the heels of two other reports that shed a negative light on the Turnpike.

The MetroWest Daily News is reporting that the pike is paying a $100,000 a year for two advisory boards that have no legal responsibility.

Sunday's Boston Globe reported that hundreds of more leaks have been discovered in the Big Dig tunnels. That report also found that steel beams are rusting, and fireproof coating is being washed away.
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