Maine OK's turnpike toll hike

PORTLAND, Maine -- The Turnpike Authority has voted unanimously to boost tolls to raise an additional $13.5 million a year for improvements on the 109-mile toll road.

The rates that take effect in February represent the turnpike's first toll increase in six years.

Cash fares at the main toll plazas in York, New Gloucester, and West Gardiner are going up 25 cents, while other toll plazas will see a 10-cent increase. All other users will see higher rates as well.

''It's a rational increase. It's not one that has gone hog wild," Gerald P. Conley Sr., authority chairman, said after the vote Friday.

Frequent users will see some of the biggest increases under the plan, which was subject to more than a year of study.

Commuter passes are subject to the biggest increase, 41 percent, and truckers will be seeing increases between 30 percent and 40 percent, said Dan Paradee, authority spokesman.