Turnpike takes its meetings on the road

The first time I attended a Massachusetts Turnpike Authority board meeting, I was amazed by the presence of television klieg lights, radio sound equipment, and real-time updates sent to the news wires.

These are meetings where terms like "swaptions," "fiduciary responsibility," and "bore length" are tossed around like tissues at a Barry Manilow concert.

Yet the high interest is warranted. The Turnpike Authority board controls a complex $15 billion tunnel system and the state's main east-west roadway - both crucial to the Massachusetts economy. It also sets toll rates, which might as well be taxes for drivers who have to travel the route every day for work.

The next few months are crucial. The authority is deeply in debt, depending on last-minute legislative help with its credit problems to stay solvent. It will probably raise tolls, probably a lot. At the same time, the board is waiting to see the final report on how leaky the Big Dig is.

But the next meeting may not attract many klieg lights or radio reporters from Boston's ferociously political media market. The authority's board began a retreat from the Boston media glare in June, the first of a long series of monthly meetings that will be held far away from the Hub. The first was in Worcester. Later this month, the board meets in Auburn. The rest of this year's meetings have not been scheduled, but the plan is to stay on the road as new toll rates are discussed.

Reporters should come, but they probably won't, given news budgets. And the authority will not do anything to draw extra attention to these proceedings, such as publishing its agendas ahead of time. Unlike the Massachusetts Port Authority and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the Turnpike Authority does not publish its agendas in advance on the Internet. Reporters sometimes get them, but not always. The public has no access until the day of the meeting.

Turnpike Authority spokesman Mac Daniel will not even release the preliminary budget until it is voted on by the board at the next meeting, even though the fiscal year began last month.

Daniel said the remote meetings are not an attempt to avoid scrutiny, as when former chairman Matthew Amorello would announce last-minute board gatherings in Western Massachusetts to be held early the next morning.

Secretary of Transportation Bernard Cohen, who now chairs the board, wants to meet in different cities so board members can interact more with toll payers who live outside of Boston, said his spokesman Klark Jessen. These meetings are announced well in advance.

"It's an outreach effort," Jessen said.

That may be so, but few members of the public can show up at 9 a.m. on a weekday, even if they live in town. And without an agenda, they don't know what will be discussed. The Worcester meeting drew public comments from the mayor and one business group. Radio reporters, television reporters, and the Boston Herald were absent.

State Senator Mark C. Montigny, a New Bedford Democrat who has long hounded the authority to be more transparent, applauds the effort to meet around the state. But he said without a public agenda, it looks bad, like the agency is trying to skirt public discussion. "The Pike has been clouded for so long in this murkiness and suspicion," he said.

The lack of open records, like an advance public agenda, has the potential to undermine real attempts being made to regain public faith, he said.

Board member Mary Z. Connaughton worries about the perception and that day-long trips are keeping crucial Turnpike Authority managers away from their jobs too long. "It would be a shame if this would cause the public to hark back to the days of Turnpike past, when meetings were held off-site in an attempt to limit transparency," she said. "We've come too far for that."

Fast Lane passes promoted

Turnpike director Alan LeBovidge is trying to get more people to use the electronic Fast Lane pass to pay their tolls, by eliminating some cash booths and switching others to Fast Lane only.

The effort to convert a dual cash/Fast Lane booth to Fast Lane-only has caused a general bottleneck where Route 128 drivers enter the turnpike. LeBovidge spent several days in toll booths last week, watching the traffic flow, Daniel said.

Despite 20 to 30 complaints, the Pike plans "to stay the course," Daniel said.

Engineers hope that by finishing some work on a bridge that goes over the turnpike before the tolls and removing some cones they may be able to improve traffic flow. Daniel did not provide a timetable for the bridge work. In the short term, turnpike workers last week were planning to reconfigure another lane to allow truckers to access it in an attempt to smooth things out.

The big picture: The Turnpike is desperate to save money, and LeBovidge is trying to pay fewer people to collect tolls.

Bridge to get new sidewalk

Many readers have written in, wondering why the Boston University Bridge between Cambridge and Boston has had a lane and a sidewalk closed since late May, without much work getting done. They have a very good point.

The Department of Conservation and Recreation closed a lane of traffic months ago, but did not start the main $2.3 million sidewalk replacement work until Monday, a spokeswoman said.

"We had some delays because we had to get permission to do work under railroad tracks there," said Wendy Fox, spokeswoman for the department.

Seems like they should have gotten this permission before they closed lanes and merged traffic. Fox said that it was unforeseen and that workers were able to get some minor work done in the meantime.

That cannot be comforting to the 41,000 commuters who use the bridge. Fox expects it will take another six months to finish both sides of the bridge, with one lane closed during the day and two closed between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m., when workers will do most of the heavy lifting.

Boaters should also beware: This week, DCR will be keeping a barge under the bridge with a work crew from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Even as workers rebuild the sidewalk, they will not add bike lanes.

"As we think about what to do with that bridge and others down the road, that's definitely being considered," Fox said.

Please send complaints, comments, or story ideas to starts@globe.com. The column and a listing of major road closures and other transportation advisories can be found at www.boston.com/starts.