Mass Pike to get in-kind relief by shucking responsibilities to Mass Highways, Mass Port

The Massachusetts Turnpike will get a little financial relief ($6.3m/yr) through shedding some responsibilities to other state agencies under a plan announced today by the Secretary of Transportation and Turnpike chairman Bernard Cohen:

- Mass Highway department will take over bridge inspections on the Turnpike, estimated to save it $2.5m/yr

- Mass Port authority will take over maintenance of tunnels between I-93 and the Tobin Bridge in Charlestown saving the Turnpike $3.7m

Cohen also announced $7.1m/yr highway department and port authority takeovers of present responsibilities of the area's rail transit agency MBTA.

Union objects to loss of bridge work

There may be a labor dispute over one part of the change. The Steelworkers Union represents Turnpike staff doing bridge inspections and a union official is quoted in the Boston press as saying "We're not going to give that up."

Turnpike staff are generally paid more than Mass Highways staff.

The Turnpike faces an approximate $100m/year funding deficit, so the $6.3m of changes wouldn't go far in closing that gap anyway. State assumption of responsibilities for operations and maintenance of the untolled portions of the big Dig (I-93) would do the trick but the other agencies obviously don't have the cash for that.

Toll the beneficiaries

An alternative would be to earn some revenue from the presently untolled section of the Big Dig with some all-electronic toll points.

We asked Cohen's spokesman a few weeks ago: "Since you incurred more than as billion dollars of debt at the turnpike to build the north-south I-93 portion of the Big Dig why aren't you asking those who benefit to pay by putting tolls on I-93?"

There was an awkward silence and he said: "This administration is not looking at any new tolls."

Knew that, but got no answer to the question as to why they aren't, which we guess is a deficiency of political courage.

Northies & southies get freebies, while easties & westies pay tolls

Nothing in notions of equity, surely, suggests only people west of Boston on the Turnpike and east through the harbor tunnels should pay tolls while those to the north and the south though beneficiaries of about two-thirds of the expense of the Big Dig and most of the Turnpike's debt must as a matter of geographic fairness to be carried by the rest?

This very question became the central issue for a "toll equity" study committee set up by Secretary Cohen in the spring. At that point he shut it down and decided it wouldn't publish a report.

TOLLROADSnews 2008-09-15