Mass Pike - Why hasn't it been improved after 55+ years? (Boston: rental, credit card)

[mdovell]

I don't think the pike is bad I take it now and then. Certainly it is faster than taking Rt 2.I'91 needs work but frankly what would be a huge disruption in the 128 belt is hardly a thing out here.

The green line extension is a huge waste of money.

There are exemptions to prevailing wage laws but on lower levels. I deal with quite a bit of that.

I would argue the biggest issue is when we had such a lack of planning of road. Straight and connected lines for roads make more sense. Making 128 and to a lesser degree 495 simply ate up more gas as we made more circles around boston. But this is funny because the area is a letter C. At the same point nearly half of what WBZ broadcasts to is just open seawater!

[KellyCrash]

My biggest gripe with the Mass Pike is the 495/90 interchange. Most everyone has a Fast Pass and there are only 2 lanes for FP getting on the Pike. I have to stay to the right to get the FP lane. Then go all the way to the right to get on 90W coming home from work. Meanwhile the other lanes have barely anyone going through them. Make the non FP people wait in lines!!!
Seriously they just need to take down the toll booths and do electronic toll collection like other places do.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by KellyCrash

My biggest gripe with the Mass Pike is the 495/90 interchange. Most everyone has a Fast Pass and there are only 2 lanes for FP getting on the Pike. I have to stay to the right to get the FP lane. Then go all the way to the right to get on 90W coming home from work. Meanwhile the other lanes have barely anyone going through them. Make the non FP people wait in lines!!!
Seriously they just need to take down the toll booths and do electronic toll collection like other places do.

I think they'd have to leave one toll booth for people who don't have a pass. That would include Mass residents who rarely use the Mass Pike and out of state residents. Do we want all of the summer Florida tourists stuck on the Mass Pike because they don't have a fast pass, LOL.

[bUU]

Originally Posted by massnative71

As far as labor costs you can thank the "Pacheco" law. It needs to be repealed, but there is no political will to do so.

Without speaking about any one specific law, Massachusetts residents enjoy a labor marketplace that is substantially biased in their favor, so your objection to that is, itself, advocacy for a regressive change in Massachusetts. Without those laws, it would be more like - well - more like Georgia. I'm not here now because the life of a worker is better here, I assure you.

Originally Posted by massnative71

Weather is not an excuse. Even most cold weather states have infrastructure that blows MA away.

It wasn't presented as an excuse, but rather as an explanation. All cold weather states have that challenge. That fact doesn't nullify that fact that it is a challenge and doesn't nullify the fact that addressing that one challenge takes substantially more resources than most other states.

Originally Posted by massnative71

Not in mine.

As others have mentioned, a lot of folks haven't traveled the entire state and so wouldn't know how the Mass Pike is in western MA, wouldn't know how Route 2 is going past Gardner, would know how US 20 is in Sturbridge. However, if you've got examples, let's see your list of ramps that are far shorter than they should be, despite there being abundant state-owned, non-environmentally-sensitive land available to make the ramp longer.

Originally Posted by massnative71

I'm not getting into a ridiculous p-ing contest with you.

It seemed from your very first reply that that was your intention, and perhaps even with other posters who reject your rather parochial perspective on these matters.

[robr2]

Originally Posted by KellyCrash

My biggest gripe with the Mass Pike is the 495/90 interchange. Most everyone has a Fast Pass and there are only 2 lanes for FP getting on the Pike. I have to stay to the right to get the FP lane. Then go all the way to the right to get on 90W coming home from work. Meanwhile the other lanes have barely anyone going through them. Make the non FP people wait in lines!!!
Seriously they just need to take down the toll booths and do electronic toll collection like other places do.

Originally Posted by in_newengland

I think they'd have to leave one toll booth for people who don't have a pass. That would include Mass residents who rarely use the Mass Pike and out of state residents. Do we want all of the summer Florida tourists stuck on the Mass Pike because they don't have a fast pass, LOL.

The toll booths are going away by the end of 2016 and will be replaced by at speed tolling gantries just like the Tobin Bridge. The gantries will be on the Pike itself and users will now be charged by distance rather than exits. Here's the map:



If you have an EZ-Pass, you will be charged as you now are. If you don't, your plate will be photographed and a bill will come in the mail. Don't pay the bill and your registration or license will not be renewed. Out of state? No problem. MA has made agreements with surrounding states to put the same hold. From way far away? You probably don't come here enough to be a regular scofflaw and some bills won't get paid. Have a rental car? No worries - Avis, Hertz, et al will chase you down.

The goal is to get everyone to use an EZ Pass. And with the requirement for toll systems to be compatible, don't be surprised to see your FL Sun Pass work in MA within a year.

[bUU]

Originally Posted by robr2

From way far away? You probably don't come here enough to be a regular scofflaw and some bills won't get paid.

Well, it's more than that, isn't it? No bill would ever get generated, since there is no means to send the bill.

Or are you saying that they plan to generate the bill, but simply not send it because they don't have access to the address to which to send it? That approach would (legally) ban cars from (say) Georgia from driving the Mass Pike. Unless there are plans to rent passes at every entry/exit...

Originally Posted by robr2

don't be surprised to see your FL Sun Pass work in MA within a year.

Have you seen more than rumor about this? We have an EZ Pass, which we use on our trips up to the northeast, but occasionally need to drive the Florida Turnpike as well, and so it would be nice if we could use the EZ Pass there, too.

[ReillyO]

Originally Posted by mdovell

I don't think the pike is bad I take it now and then. Certainly it is faster than taking Rt 2.I'91 needs work but frankly what would be a huge disruption in the 128 belt is hardly a thing out here.

The green line extension is a huge waste of money.

There are exemptions to prevailing wage laws but on lower levels. I deal with quite a bit of that.

I would argue the biggest issue is when we had such a lack of planning of road. Straight and connected lines for roads make more sense. Making 128 and to a lesser degree 495 simply ate up more gas as we made more circles around boston. But this is funny because the area is a letter C. At the same point nearly half of what WBZ broadcasts to is just open seawater!

Most every city has circumferential highways. In theory having jobs along the 128 belt takes commuters out of the Downtown/Kendall/Seaport pile-ons into the core. And I don't think they should have built more highways across downtown, because they tried that with the Artery and now Mass will be paying off big Dig money forever.

It's so frustrating that they can't manage to built a rapid transit line where there was an existing railroad or streetcar, for reasonable $ that is comparable to any project elsewhere. They need to expand the T network and get more people off the roads (and buy new rolling stock and fix the tracks and the signalling and the snow clearing equipment....), but the reasons the Pike isn't improved is the same reasons the Green Line extension is in trouble and Lynn has been going wanting for the Blue Line for the last 70 years - there's not enough space, and there's not enough money for everyone who wants $$$$.

[btownboss4]

Originally Posted by ReillyO

Most every city has circumferential highways. In theory having jobs along the 128 belt takes commuters out of the Downtown/Kendall/Seaport pile-ons into the core. And I don't think they should have built more highways across downtown, because they tried that with the Artery and now Mass will be paying off big Dig money forever.

It's so frustrating that they can't manage to built a rapid transit line where there was an existing railroad or streetcar, for reasonable $ that is comparable to any project elsewhere. They need to expand the T network and get more people off the roads (and buy new rolling stock and fix the tracks and the signalling and the snow clearing equipment....), but the reasons the Pike isn't improved is the same reasons the Green Line extension is in trouble and Lynn has been going wanting for the Blue Line for the last 70 years - there's not enough space, and there's not enough money for everyone who wants $$$$.

A lot of Through traffic takes 128/495 as opposed to I-93 to avoid Boston, if either of those highways didn't exist, the Mass Pike and I-93 would be a whole lot worse.

[robr2]

Originally Posted by bUU

Well, it's more than that, isn't it? No bill would ever get generated, since there is no means to send the bill.

Or are you saying that they plan to generate the bill, but simply not send it because they don't have access to the address to which to send it? That approach would (legally) ban cars from (say) Georgia from driving the Mass Pike. Unless there are plans to rent passes at every entry/exit...

No. The bill will be sent to the registered owner of the vehicle as the states share registration and license information. Someone visiting from say Louisiana may ignore the bill from MassDOT since they won't be coming back here nor would they be prevented from renewing their license or registration. In those cases, the toll is written off at some point.

Originally Posted by bUU

Have you seen more than rumor about this? We have an EZ Pass, which we use on our trips up to the northeast, but occasionally need to drive the Florida Turnpike as well, and so it would be nice if we could use the EZ Pass there, too.

The Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009 mandated inter-operability among toll systems by 2013. Well that has passed but the toll groups are working toward a standard. The issue is that there are 6 different standards for toll collection in the US and nobody wants to scrap all their installed equipment. License plate readers will probably be the most effective manner to integrate all the systems. MassDOT reads the plate and sends the info to a central repository of toll tag owners. If a match is found, that tag is charged. If not, it kicks back to MassDOT and they send a bill.

IIRC, MassDOT does not send a bill every time a plate is scanned. They collect them all and send a monthly invoice in order to reduce costs.

[bUU]

Originally Posted by robr2

No. The bill will be sent to the registered owner of the vehicle as the states share registration and license information. Someone visiting from say Louisiana may ignore the bill from MassDOT since they won't be coming back here nor would they be prevented from renewing their license or registration.

That's not the way what you wrote reads. You said that there are "surrounding" states with which MA has agreements to share such information. Some additional research indicates that what you wrote originally was actually the case - the agreement seems to include fifteen states, so far, but Louisiana seems to be outside that set.

Originally Posted by robr2

The Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009 mandated inter-operability among toll systems by 2013.

Apparently, H.R. 3763 (2015) pushed that out to 2021.