Drivers give thumbs-down to potential turnpike toll hikes

September 26, 2008 06:21 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By John M. Guilfoil, Globe Correspondent

NATICK -- The verdict is in, and the jury of commuters didn't need much time to deliberate over the possibility of higher tolls on the Massachusetts Turnpike.

"I think it's ridiculous," said Kari Machowski, 45, of Hudson, who runs the United Vision sunglass stand at the Natick rest area. Machowski said she was worried that her business would suffer because fewer people would take the roadway.

"Do you think anybody is going to say they want an increase?" said Barry Standish, 58, of Westfield. "I don't think they should increase it. I think the Big Dig is way overblown. The amount of money they asked for originally and the amount they ended up spending was ridiculous.”

"I don't think the taxpayer should pay for it, just like the bailout," he said, referring to the financial package to aid Wall Street that is currently making headlines.

To close a looming budget gap, turnpike officials are looking at increases as high as $1 at the Weston and Allston-Brighton tollbooths, where tolls are currently $1.25, or as much as $5 at the harbor tunnels, where tolls are now $3.50. Most likely, drivers would face a blend of the options. The turnpike board is also looking at reinstating tolls for passenger cars on the western turnpike, Exits 1 through 6, and at West Newton. Both tolls were eliminated in 1996.

Bill Phillips of Milford, another one of the drivers steering their cars into the rest stop on this gloomy, rainy morning, said the people using Interstate 93 should be asked to shoulder some of the burden.

"The people going north and south -- those people aren't paying. If they need more money, they should put up tolls on the north and the south people. That will be popular, right?" said Phillips

But in the end, most drivers said they will have no choice but to pay.

"I'm handcuffed. I really have no choice," said Bryan Alford, 43, of Framingham, who commutes to Watertown. "I can probably take Route 20 but then you get behind a school bus and instead of 15 minutes late, I'm 30 to 40 minutes late."

Turnpike authority officials debated a menu of steep toll hikes Thursday and appeared resigned about passing a price hike in the near future. The biggest point of contention was not whether a hike is likely, but when it would be imposed, the Globe reports this morning.

Some top officials at a turnpike board meeting held out hope that an increase could be averted, but a majority of members appeared to support raising tolls enough to reap at least $78 million more a year from tollbooths and tunnels near Boston and another $12 million a year on the western sections of the toll road.