Lynn pols outraged over toll hike plan

LYNN – The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority’s Board of Directors voted Friday in favor of a proposal that would dramatically increase highway tolls in Greater Boston.The Ted Williams Tunnel toll would increase from $3.50 to $7 if the measure survives a series of public hearings. The new tolls would become effective Feb. 9.The toll hike was met with outrage by state legislators and motorists, particularly those on the North Shore who would be hardest hit.”I’m livid,” said Rep. Steve Walsh, a Lynn Democrat. “It’s a pennywise and pound-foolish plan. They’re doubling the tolls in what are the worst economic times since the Great Depression.”Walsh said Gov. Deval Patrick is about to unveil a major transportation system overhaul plan, but the Turnpike Authority apparently decided not to wait.”One of the board members had the audacity to suggest that there is no free lunch, but our constituents on the North Shore have already purchased a filet mignon and a lobster,” said Walsh, referring to the present system that requires North Shore residents to pay bridge and tunnel tolls, while commuters from communities south and west of Boston pay nothing.State Sen. Thomas McGee, the ranking member of the Lynn Delegation at the State House, said at least two and perhaps more public hearings will be held before the effective date of the toll increases.”I’m not opposed to tolls going up some, but to think $7, it’s just unbelievably devastating for the people on the North Shore to have to pay that amount to go to work every morning,” he said.McGee, who testified at Friday’s Turnpike Authority board meeting, said the Legislature made a mistake 10 years ago and the impact is now coming due. “We voted against the metropolitan highway bill, or what was the Big Dig, being paid for through toll increases. Over the years, we filed legislation looking at fair alternatives. These included a gas tax and maybe tolls on roads that are not currently toll roads,” he said. “But these aren’t alternatives that we’ve been able to push forward.”McGee said the state must take a serious look at the financial report completed over the past year by a special bi-partisan legislative commission established to come up with recommendations on how to pay for the state’s whopping highway debt.”It’s not all about tolls,” he said. “A gas tax needs to be part of that discussion. It’s not whether you’re pro or con on the Big Dig. That project was a positive for the entire state of Massachusetts and has to be paid for by the state. It has to be funded fairly and appropriately.”McGee said the state’s business community must become involved in the process. “There needs to be a large discussion. The FinCom report is out and there has been no discussion of its recommendations.”Both Walsh and Rep. Robert Fennell, also a Lynn Democrat, said alternatives include less-drastic toll increases, a gas tax, a fee for use of Fast Lane transponders, a separate fee on transponders used by out-of-state motorists, and a toll on inbound traffic at the state’s borders.If the stiff toll increases sanctioned Friday by the Turnpike Authority become a reality, access roads like those wending through Somerville and Everett will become parking lots, Interstate 93 will gridlock, and the communities within I-93 will sag from the weight of additional pressure on their highway infrastructures, the Lynn legislators said.Walsh said motorists with a GPS device will begin pushing the “avoid toll roads” button and, in turn, this will cause traffic jams on the alternate routes. “That could really make this whole thing backfire because if more people start using non-toll roads, then there will be less toll money overall coming in,” he said.Both Lynn legislators said a longer comment period is needed before any definitive change is made to the tolls.Fennell, vice chairman of the House Committee on Transportation, was further incensed by what he called the Turnpike Authority’s unwillingness to hold off on toll hikes pe