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Thursday,
October 4, 2007
Highway
tolls going up Oct. 22 |
CONCORD -
The Executive Council on Wednesday approved a toll hike plan suggested by the state transportation commissioner, with an important change: drivers along Interstate 95 also will be hit and tolls on I-95 ramps will not go as high as requested.
Effective Oct. 22, tolls for cars and light trucks will go from 75 cents to $1 on Interstate 93 in Hooksett and the Everett Turnpike in Bedford. They will increase from 50 cents to 75 cents on the Spaulding Turnpike in Dover and Rochester.
On Interstate 95, tolls will increase from $1 to $1.50, based on a proposal presented Wednesday from Councilor Beverly Hollingworth. Ramp tolls on I-95 will rise from 50 cents to 75 cents, not to $1 as the state proposed.
Tolls on heavier trucks also will increase.
Transportation Commissioner Charles O'Leary had proposed leaving the mainline tolls on I-95 alone, but Hollingworth said her constituents thought it was fairer to increase tolls along the highway, which would tap out-of-staters, than to double them at the ramps, which are used by residents.
She said there was no question among constituents about needing more money to improve highway safety, just who would pay.
"The big question is: They want to make sure it's fair," she said.
O'Leary praised Hollingworth for suggesting the hikes.
"She's a very brave lady," he said, adding that Hollingworth's plan was well-thought out and more equitable than his.
O'Leary had hoped to raised $16 million annually to back highway improvement bonds. With the changes approved by the council, the toll hikes will bring in $24 million.
Toll evaders only cost the system about $440,000 in revenue and stepped up enforcement would not generate the money needed for turnpike projects, O'Leary noted.
Tolls would not increase at the ramps in Merrimack -- which has been fighting for relief from them for years. The council postponed until Oct. 31 action on Councilor Debora Pignatelli's request to eliminate the tolls on the southbound ramps at Exit 10 and Exit 11 on the Everett Turnpike.
"You can't get in or out of town without paying a toll," she said.
She said the state would only lose $607,000, but O'Leary said that doesn't take into account the cost of removing the toll plazas, which otherwise would be a safety hazard. O'Leary also said the bonds used to build the interchange for the town in 1992 have not been repaid.
"This is not as simple as it seems," he said.
Pignatelli acknowledged the town wanted the exits but charging them tolls to get them was extortion.
Some councilors appeared sympathetic, but indicated the best way to help Merrimack would be through a special discount for E-ZPass users. The E-ZPass discount is controlled by the Legislature, however, and remains in effect with the council vote. It is 30 percent for cars and light trucks and 10 percent for commercial vehicles.
Pignatelli was the only councilor to vote against the toll hikes.
Tolls pay to operate and maintain the 93-mile turnpike system. Tolls also are used to repay special revenue bonds that finance major bridge and road repairs, but not enough money is coming in to cover critically needed projects, said O'Leary.
O'Leary said most of the turnpike system was built in the 1950s with a useful life expectancy of 50 years. Construction costs have risen 45 percent in the last few years due to the higher cost of cement, steel and petrochemicals needed for road building, he said.
O'Leary proposes spending roughly $300 million over 10 years to repair or replace 14 of the system's 159 bridges, widen the Spaulding Turnpike in Rochester and begin engineering work on a section in Newington and Dover.
Some of the bridges on the Spaulding Turnpike were shored up with wood in 1992, which was supposed to be a short-term repair, he said.
O'Leary proposes selling $200 million in bonds and also using $100 million in turnpike income to pay for the projects.
State Treasurer Catherine Provencher said current toll revenue isn't enough to finance the bonds.
"We have to increase revenue. We can't pay the debt with the current revenue stream," said Provencher.
State GOP Chairman Fergus Cullen immediately jumped on Gov. John Lynch for the increase, calling it a tax hike.
"The Lynch toll hike is only temporary relief to a Department of Transportation that has been plagued by mismanagement and a lack of leadership under the Shaheen and Lynch administrations," he said.
He accused Lynch of being silent while transportation money was being spent by other agencies.
"In an effort to address the problem his administration has exacerbated, Lynch's first instinct is to raise taxes," Cullen said.
Raymond Buckley, state Democratic chairman, responded, "Fergus Cullen is simply playing politics with people's safety. This proposal is widely supported. The proof is in the fact that the two Republicans on the Executive Council today voted to support Gov. Lynch's plan."
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