The state plans to eliminate highway toll collectors within three years, switching to an all-electronic system that would remove toll plazas — and with them cash, human interaction, and time-consuming bottlenecks — from the Massachusetts Turnpike and other roads, Governor Deval Patrick said Monday.
Replacing all plazas with sensors and cameras to keep traffic moving at highway speed could cost about $100 million, an expense the administration said would pay for itself in two to three years. It would also eliminate the need for expensive renovations to aging toll plazas.
Comments
Better yet, why not just have a road tax and take down the toll booths altogether. Everyone benefits from this road even if you don't use it. Goods are brought by truck and maybe some of your favorite relatives. It is time to do away with this acient idea of toll booths.
Long overdue. Travel through NJ or on I-95 in NH and it will become obvious. Although...... OETKB makes great points.
it makes sense that toll takers are eliminated. Now if we can just work on eliminating all the police details at construction sites and replace them with crossing guards we would save a lot of money. And ....for those who lament the jobs of the toll takers im sure the last guy who made a buggy whip for horses had to also find a new profession
Nothing against law enforcement, but you are on to something here.
Don't bet on it! There is no way the Governor has the khunas to go against union members.
I'll take your bet, Canta. The Gov's not running again, and the Transportation Dept/ has to find significant ways to save money. (I also like OETKB's idea of a plain road tax. No more toll roads, period!)
This is an EPIC MISTAKE. For god's sake, this is just a different flavor of the same insanity.
Get rid of the tollbooths altogether. All you're doing here is perpetuating the inefficiency of the road, because expensive infrastructure (manned or unmanned) just keeps you from building enough exits to make the road useful. Make it an open road so people can get on and off wherever it makes sense. That saves time, money, frustration, and gives an economic boost to the communities through which this highway passes. What's the loss there??
Under the same principles, bridges and tunnels present a different model; those should be paid for by users, because it's a very specific benefit. Roads should be free so their utility is maximized for everyone.
I know that when people say, "It's not about the money," it usually is. I honestly don't care -- we'll pay one way or another. We need to fund ALL the highways, so raise the gas tax to do it. If you have one road that has tolls and gets no gas tax money, and another that is the opposite, you just create dual and incompatible infrastructures.
However you do it, eliminating the slowdown for tolls is the way to go.
Where is the $$$ coming from? Pay for itself in three years, does he really expect us to believe that? I can see the problems now, first we have a massive system failure that backs vehicles up for miles, then there are finance problems - that the tax payers has to cover. The toll collectors are being treated badly. They have families, mortgages, etc. - they are being treated by Patrick as a disposable commodity. Dump them, shame on him. Guess if Patrick does not plan on running for governer in the next election, he doesn't care about the 410 votes anymore.
Sounds like your family might still have the original toll they collected from Paul Revere back in April of 1776.
Actually, how about the elimination of the tolls as was promised after the Pike was paid for? Which it long has... I'm a liberal but I'm getting sick of this crap.
Getting to be sick of it? I'm not a wingnut, either, but this has been a comedy of errors for decades. With a group of state legislators embroiled in the Probation scandle and unable to stand up publicly for more patronage, we can at least hope for a good outcome this time.
Of course we're not talking about just getting rid of the tolls as was promised in the 50s when it was built, and many election cycles since. Devolve is of course talking about making way for open-road tolling, or ( drooool! ) GPS based tax for every mile driven.
(If you try to sit ), I’ll tax your seat,
(If you get too cold ), I’ll tax the heat,
(If you take a walk ), I’ll tax your feet.
Taxman.
Please don't quote the Beatles; it's culturally disingenuous for a right-winger. And besides - they paid taxes at a much higher rate than you ever will.
The GPS idea of tolling every mile driven is a great one. Exeptions for certain commercial usage.
The Callahan Tunnel (Logan Airport Tolls) were completed in 1961 with the promise to remove the tolls once it was paid for; we don't know how many times over, but it has been paid for. The tolls were eliminated on the mainland side, but doubled in East Boston, penalizing this one particular neighborhood, as many drive around through East Boston to Charlestown and Cambridge in order to avoid paying $350; commercial vehicles pay more. Commercial vehicles include anything with lettering, a cost taxis pass on to the pass on, right or wrong, to passengers at the airport. Contractors in Revere, Wintrop and E. Boston often pay multiple times per day, and we all pay.
Mass. State Auditor revealed $100 million missing from MBTA the last 5 years, the MBTA budget seems not to be available to the public; we can afford to remove all the tolls if we can reduce malfeasance and misappropriation of funds. These are the same people that want to build us a casino in Eastie...