Mass Turnpike Authority may be abolished to bring under state control
Posted Tue, 2007-05-29 17:20
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick says its impossible to have "a comprehensive transport strategy" with the Massachusetts Turnpike and other state transport agencies run by independent boards of directors. He is quoted in reports today: ""Right now, no governor could implement a comprehensive transportation strategy in Massachusetts. We have delegated that authority to four or five independent (agencies) and they don't even talk to each other."
Patrick doesn't yet have any legislative proposal to change the situation, but some are arguing for folding the Turnpike into the state DOT or having the board members serve "at the pleasure" of the governor.
The latest expressions of antagonism to the Turnpike Authority were provoked by another $330m addition to the costs of the still uncompleted Central Artery/Tunnel or Big Dig project, bringing its estimated cost to complete to $14.8b (vs the original estimate of $2.6b).
Before that former Gov Mitt Romney's Turnpike board appointees went along with an electoral gimmick of promising to abolish tolls west of MA128, then after the election saying they favored raising taxes to make up for lost tolls.
The chairman of the legislature's bonding, capital expenditures and state assets Sen Mark Montigny says it won't be possible "to recover public trust without ending the pike as we know it."
Others have talked of "euthanizing" the turnpike authority.
COMMENT: Some of this rather overwrought language is just for political effect and it overlooks the reasons why a separate turnpike authority was formed in the first place - a degree of political independence is needed in order to persuade investors in turnpike bonds that maintenance and revenues won't be sacrificed to the political expediency of keeping tolls rates down. Bond covenants usually require that net revenues be set to provide a certain coverage ratio of debt service obligations, or the board of the authority risks losing control to bondholders.
You have to wonder also precisely what is entailed in a "comprehensive transportation strategy" that is presently precluded by the independence of the turnpike board. Critics of privatization also raise this preclusion of "comprehensive strategy" specter as an argument for maintaining toll authorities as public entities.
Gov Patrick however is saying the public toll authority precludes "comprehensive strategy" also. New Hampshire, Virginia, Florida and Texas all have state DOTs running major tollroads directly but it isn't clear their transport strategies and planning are any more comprehensive than where the tollroads are run as separate entities.
TOLLROADSnews 2007-05-29
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick says its impossible to have "a comprehensive transport strategy" with the Massachusetts Turnpike and other state transport agencies run by independent boards of directors. He is quoted in reports today: ""Right now, no governor could implement a comprehensive transportation strategy in Massachusetts. We have delegated that authority to four or five independent (agencies) and they don't even talk to each other."Patrick doesn't yet have any legislative proposal to change the situation, but some are arguing for folding the Turnpike into the state DOT or having the board members serve "at the pleasure" of the governor.
The latest expressions of antagonism to the Turnpike Authority were provoked by another $330m addition to the costs of the still uncompleted Central Artery/Tunnel or Big Dig project, bringing its estimated cost to complete to $14.8b (vs the original estimate of $2.6b).
Before that former Gov Mitt Romney's Turnpike board appointees went along with an electoral gimmick of promising to abolish tolls west of MA128, then after the election saying they favored raising taxes to make up for lost tolls.
The chairman of the legislature's bonding, capital expenditures and state assets Sen Mark Montigny says it won't be possible "to recover public trust without ending the pike as we know it."
Others have talked of "euthanizing" the turnpike authority.
COMMENT: Some of this rather overwrought language is just for political effect and it overlooks the reasons why a separate turnpike authority was formed in the first place - a degree of political independence is needed in order to persuade investors in turnpike bonds that maintenance and revenues won't be sacrificed to the political expediency of keeping tolls rates down. Bond covenants usually require that net revenues be set to provide a certain coverage ratio of debt service obligations, or the board of the authority risks losing control to bondholders.
You have to wonder also precisely what is entailed in a "comprehensive transportation strategy" that is presently precluded by the independence of the turnpike board. Critics of privatization also raise this preclusion of "comprehensive strategy" specter as an argument for maintaining toll authorities as public entities.
Gov Patrick however is saying the public toll authority precludes "comprehensive strategy" also. New Hampshire, Virginia, Florida and Texas all have state DOTs running major tollroads directly but it isn't clear their transport strategies and planning are any more comprehensive than where the tollroads are run as separate entities.
TOLLROADSnews 2007-05-29