Official touts hikes in gas tax, toll lanes

The House chairman of the Legislature's transportation committee said yesterday that the state should consider toll lanes and a hike in gas taxes as ways to pay for major transportation projects.

The state transportation secretary, Daniel A. Grabauskas, said that Governor Mitt Romney is opposed to any increase in gas taxes. But Grabauskas said he was studying high-occupancy toll lanes, also known as "HOT" lanes or "Lexus lanes," where drivers pay for the privilege of using a dedicated lane at rush hour.

While detailing a House plan to reorganize state transportation agencies, Representative Joseph F. Wagner, cochairman of the Joint Committee on Transportation, said new methods of financing highway and transit projects are badly needed.

"We have $10 billion in unmet needs," said Wagner, a Chicopee Democrat. "We need to come up with new and innovative ways to finance this state's investments in transportation. And the money is not going to fall out of the sky. . . . We can get serious about this and identify new sources of money."

Wagner, however, stressed that he is not personally advocating an increase in the gas tax or to establish new tolls. He just wants a broader discussion of ways to raise money for transportation projects.

But Wagner stressed there are no active proposals on Beacon Hill to hike the gas tax or establish new tolls. Such measures would require approval from the House, Senate, and the governor.

Wagner's reorganization plan would create a transportation finance commission that would develop a long-term plan for major projects. The commission would include 13 members: five governor-appointed members, three appointees by both the House and Senate, one from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, and one from the Massachusetts Business Roundtable.

Wagner also suggested that the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority take over more of the state's highways. The Romney administration seeks to merge the Turnpike Authority into the state highway department. Wagner would create a transportation coordinating council to guide policy.

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, lauded the House transportation restructuring plan and said it goes further than a reorganization proposal put forth by the Senate last month. The foundation released a report last month that was critical of Romney's proposed turnpike merger.

The Senate's transportation reorganization plan, which keeps the Turnpike Authority but gives the state transportation secretary more control over it, and Romney's merger proposal were both part of the state budget. Wagner's proposed restructuring would be a separate bill.

Grabuaskas said he hadn't had a chance to look at all the details of Wagner's plan, but agreed with him that new ways of financing transportation projects needed to be found, including charging developers who build on land adjacent to new roadways or transit lines. That idea, along with seeking more federal funding, was proposed in a meeting yesterday with South Shore lawmakers seeking a commitment on the proposed Fall River-New Bedford commuter rail line.