By Lindsey Parietti/Daily News correspondent
GHS
Fri Jun 01, 2007, 01:57 AM EDT
A plan to
end Massachusetts Turnpike tolls in exchange for a 9 cent gas tax increase
faced heavy scrutiny and had few takers at the State House yesterday.
State Rep. Tom Sannicandro, D-Ashland, told the Legislature's Joint
Transportation Committee that the elimination of tolls on the western portion
of the Turnpike has left MetroWest commuters to
shoulder Big Dig debt and highway maintenance alone.
"The only toll road in
Massachusetts runs east to west. The Big Dig is north to south. Why should we
be subsidizing this?" said Sannicandro, who
sponsored the bill on behalf of Framingham resident Mary Connaughton.
Connaughton, who is also a member of the
Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, estimated that the gas tax increase would
only cost drivers $68 annually, and would save a commuter from Framingham $836
in tolls. And with a proposed 25 percent toll increase on the table for next
year, Connaughton worried the commute will cost an
additional $400 to $500.
"If you do the simple
math people don't balk at $68. They balk at $1,200,"
she said.
But committee Chairmen Sen.
Steven Baddour, D-Methuen, and state Rep. Joseph
Wagner, D-Chicopee, said it is not just a matter of mathematics.
"People in Chicopee
would balk at a 9 cent tax. If we lead with taxes and tolls, we are barking up
the wrong tree" Wagner said. "If the fix were an easy fix we would
have done it already."
State Reps. Pamela
Richardson, D-Framingham, David Linsky, D-Natick,
Alice Peisch, D-Wellesley, and state Sen. Karen E. Spilka, D-Natick, also testified against what they called a
"fundamental unfairness" to commuters who live between Boston and
Rte. 128.
"MetroWest
commuters pay significant costs for roads that benefit everyone,"
Richardson said. "The gas tax will have the burden spread over commuters
all over the state."
With legislative leadership
opposing new taxes and gas prices climbing, the MetroWest
delegation stood alone behind the plan.
"The idea of
increasing the gas tax when gas prices are through the roof does not make
sense," Baddour said. "I don't see it ever
happening."
Sannicandro called on fellow legislators to
honor the state's 1952 promise to make the Turnpike toll free.
But Wagner countered that
the state still needs the revenue stream to fund transportation projects.
"We need $16 billion
to $19 billion just to meet maintenance needs over the next 20 years," he
said. "In 1952, when the Pike was built, the toll from the most western
part to the end was $2.45, now it's only $2.70."
Wagner and other committee
members were more receptive to Spilka's proposal to
introduce new tolls at state borders.
"We all pay tolls when
entering New Hampshire," Spilka said.
"Drivers entering Massachusetts should contribute to the maintenance of
our roads as well."
Connaughton said she supports adding tolls to
other roads, but eliminating tolls is a more immediate way to resolve the
inequity.
"The best solution
would be to toll all major roads going into Boston, but that's not going to
happen," she said. "What's left to promote now is the removal of all
the tolls."
Reference:
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/homepage/x1941843907