Toll booths to be removed (Boston, Westfield: 2013, how much, construction)

[Amontillado]

Mass. Seeks To Eliminate Tollbooths For Cashless System | WBUR

They're talking about doing this first on the Tobin Bridge, then along the Turnpike. This is going to be so-called open-road tolling, where you don't have to pass through a narrow lane or even slow down, the same system that's been used on Rte 95 in New Hampshire for a couple of years now. But they'll modify it so that if you don't have an EZ-Pass transponder, they'll photograph your car and send you a bill each month, and no doubt if you don't pay you have a violation hanging over you.

A spokesman says "The technology is such now that it is possible to take cash out of the system, and cash transactions take time." That's fine, but once they have the system working, there's going to be the temptation to set up new tollbooths in places that are free now. What's been preventing that is the fact that most roads (I-93, for instance) have lots of entrances and exits, and no space to set up booths. But if they can get the money when we're on the open road, what's to stop them? Of course once the Big Dig was perpetrated, they tried to pay for it from Turnpike tolls. I only occasionally use the Turnpike, but I'm aware of how unfair it is to charge users of an east-west road to pay for a north-south road. Well, justice may be coming.

And another thing. Transit system operators love to get everyone using electronic passes like the Charlie Card. When it's time to raise the fares, users kick back a lot less if they just have to reload their passes more often, versus if they had to pay extra cash for every ride. Same with toll transponders: you never see the cash you're laying out to drive the road, and if it costs more today than yesterday, you won't know till the end of the month. In fact, if the state's computer is dipping into your bank account, you'll have to examine your statement or you won't know at all. So no wonder this lovely convenient technology is being welcomed by the folks at the state Department of Transportation. They're hearing the gravy train toot its whistle.

[Parsec]

I hear the payback period on this will be 3 years, after taking into consideration toll worker salaries vs. the cost of building this system plus the annual operating cost. Coincidentally, the Golden State Bridge just opened up a similar system this past week. No more toll collectors over there!

[Parsec]

Also I was just thinking, they are testing this on the Tobin first because it's a single flat toll. It would be harder to institute on the Mass Pike because they'll have to synchronize dozens of exits and open them all at the same time.

[TAM88]

Open road tolling should have been implemented years ago. It will allow people to travel through the tolls a heck of a lot faster than they currently can.

Not to mention the savings in the long run of no longer having the toll booth workers will be great.

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by TAM88

Open road tolling should have been implemented years ago. It will allow people to travel through the tolls a heck of a lot faster than they currently can.

Not to mention the savings in the long run of no longer having the toll booth workers will be great.

I couldn't agree more. Just the benefit of alleviating traffic is reason enough to implement it. I was down in Miami for vacation back in December and on I95 they have "express lanes" that you have to pay a toll to access. The toll readers hover above the lanes and read your transponder as you drive under at full speed. Why every toll isn't collected in this fashion, I have no idea.

[mmyk72]

I still remember toll booth workers getting caught stealing money about last year. What a primitive system.

I agree that once they figure out doing this then any highway can become a toll road. But then, I never understood why only East-West travelers pay toll in the first place.

[Boston_Burbs]

“With the electronic tolling format, it would allow us to look at other potential tolling locations,” he said.

To think I was excited about this for a millisecond

[Parsec]

Originally Posted by mmyk72

I still remember toll booth workers getting caught stealing money about last year. What a primitive system.

I agree that once they figure out doing this then any highway can become a toll road. But then, I never understood why only East-West travelers pay toll in the first place.

Keep in mind the Mass Pike is a relatively new highway. It still has bond debt from construction and subsequent maintenance. Yes, our state is so poor that we take out bonds to repave the Mass Pike. All of this debt has ballooned to billions of dollars on just the Mass Pike alone. Legislation was drafted in the 1950's to close the toll booths once the bond debt was paid off, but since then the debt has only gotten larger, not smaller.

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by Parsec

Keep in mind the Mass Pike is a relatively new highway. It still has bond debt from construction and subsequent maintenance. Yes, our state is so poor that we take out bonds to repave the Mass Pike. All of this debt has ballooned to billions of dollars on just the Mass Pike alone. Legislation was drafted in the 1950's to close the toll booths once the bond debt was paid off, but since then the debt has only gotten larger, not smaller.

I vaguely recollect reading within the last 10 years or so that the MA Pike debt had been paid off and that the tolls were being used to fund something else. Maybe it was the debt generated by the initial build of the Pike that they were talking about because there was a lot of talk about doing away with the tolls at that time. In fact, I believe they eliminated a few toll plazas along the Pike at that time but they were pretty far out west.

[Amontillado]

Originally Posted by Parsec

Keep in mind the Mass Pike is a relatively new highway. It still has bond debt from construction and subsequent maintenance. Yes, our state is so poor that we take out bonds to repave the Mass Pike. All of this debt has ballooned to billions of dollars on just the Mass Pike alone. Legislation was drafted in the 1950's to close the toll booths once the bond debt was paid off, but since then the debt has only gotten larger, not smaller.

I don't think that's true. Back in the Weld administration (I think) there were news stories saying that the Turnpike had paid off its debt, and to obey the legislation that created it, the tolls were supposed to be abolished at that point. Seeing that a productive cash cow was about to be turned loose, the Turnpike Authority immediately spent a big chunk of money so as to keep the tolls in force, and now of course the money's needed to pay for the Big Dig and will be forever and ever. Yes, they did eliminate the tolls beyond Westfield. Once in a blue moon someone in Boston gets a little pang of guilt about how much the people west of the Connecticut River pay for the privilege of living in our beautiful state, versus how little they get in terms of services. So they tossed 'em a little bone.