Boston Area News

BOSTON (AP) ― The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority could more fairly spread out transportation costs if it adds tolls to Interstate 93 car pool lanes and the South Boston haul road and reinstates tolls in Western Massachusetts and at Exit 16 in Newton, a task force said Tuesday.

In addition, the four-member panel said other possibilities might include increasing Western Massachusetts tolls overall, changing the rates for commercial vehicles and revisiting the rates, zones and enforcement of car pool lanes.

Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen stressed the turnpike authority is not ready to implement any of the options at the moment; a final task force report is not due until May.

He also said systemwide reforms of the state's transportation system would come before any toll increases, but he conceded some sort of toll action is likely this year.

"We are in an exploratory process here, and we are doing it in the most transparent way possible," Cohen told a handful of reporters he assembled before the authority's monthly meeting. "It is prudent for us to be looking in the widest possible way at potential resources for the turnpike."

Many turnpike users -- including residents just outside Route 128 in the MetroWest area -- complain they are paying a disproportionate share of the cost for Boston's nearly $15 billion Central Artery project, while I-93 drivers are entering the city for free from the north and south.

Prior talk of tolling I-93, however, has triggered howls of protests from northern and southern legislators, as well as a rebuke for turnpike officials from the chief of staff to Gov. Deval Patrick, who said that nothing of the sort is imminent.

Nonetheless, the state is facing a backlog of $19 billion in transportation infrastructure needs, and Patrick has pledged to find a sustainable -- and equitable -- way to spread transportation costs.

The task force is comprised of Jeffrey Mullan, undersecretary of transportation and general counsel to Cohen, who serves as Turnpike Authority chairman; Eric Waarmaa, the turnpike's former finance director and now revenue forecaster for the MBTA; Jennifer Flagg, the turnpike's chief of administration, and; Stephen Collins, the turnpike's director of toll operations.

In its report, it addressed concerns that not all commuters are paying their fair share of tolls, noting:
--Those traveling between Exits 1-6, from the New York border to 51 miles east, do not pay a toll.

--Those exiting at Exit 16 in Newton have not paid a toll since then-Gov. William F. Weld tore down the booth in 1996.

--Toll rates for those west of Route 128 have not changed since 1990.

--Boston residents pay a discounted rate of 40 cents, a savings of 89 percent, when using the Boston Harbor tunnels.

Under the heading of "potential solutions/options," the task force said:

--Tolls could be reinstated between Exits 1-6 for all cars, cars without a FastLane electronic toll pass or at Exit 1, which would capture the bulk of users.

--Exit 16 options include reinstalling the toll plaza or using the site for a pilot program test of "open-road tolling" in which drivers pass a collection point at highway speeds so the toll can be collected electronically.

--Tolls could be enacted in the tunnel that passes through Charlestown at the bottom of the Tobin Bridge.

--Non-carpool vehicles could be allowed to use car pool lanes in I-93 for a fee.

--Tolls could be instituted on the South Boston haul road, a surface road leading to the Ted Williams Tunnel.

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