Mass Pike CEO says Turnpike can't handle Big Dig debt, but tolls unlikely

Massachusetts Turnpike CEO Alan LeBovidge says there is "no way the Mass Pike can handle the costs" imposed on it by the untolled Big Dig. And apparently reflecting on the Patrick administration and the state legislature he says he sees "no appetite" for putting tolls on it.

These comments are published this morning in an interview with transport reporter Casey Ross in the Boston Globe:

"There is no way the Mass Pike can handle the costs that were (put) on it (by the Big Dig). It wasn't built for that. It was built as a road, and all of a sudden it has this mega project on it, most of which is untolled and I think will remain untolled.

No appetite for tolls

"I don't think there's any appetite for tolls on Interstate 93. But the problem here is maintenance costs and a debt burden that's killing the Pike. It's what's happened to America: too much debt. People borrowed on their credit cards, they borrowed their home equity, they borrowed on everything. "

Asked what surprised him most after taking over the job of Pike CEO early 2007 LeBovidge tells the Globe:

"The surprise was really the depth of the problem caused by the Big Dig. They had management issues. The deferred maintenance and the continuing maintenance of the Big Dig adds to the debt. We don't want to take a really valuable asset and let it deteriorate. It's an unbelievable project when you go into the bowels and see it, but it's going to take much more (money) than I anticipated. I understood the management issues. I understood the overuse of consultants at the Pike. But you can't appreciate that it's going to take $100 million a year to take care of this."

Dismantling the Turnpike?

Asked if the Turnpike is obsolete as an organization LeBovidge says:

"I don't know if obsolete is the right word. I think it needs to be changed, the organization. The governor came out within the last month at a press conference and said that he's directed the secretary of transportation to come up with a plan to dismantle the Pike. That can mean a lot of things. I didn't get inside his brain to find out exactly what it means.

"But sometimes to save the organization, you have to change the organization, so I support that. It's a vital asset. It's the most important road in Massachusetts. But the structure of the authority should be changed, and there are variations to how you can do it. We'll see how it comes out."

Now 67, LeBovidge had a long career at the accounting firm Pricewaterhouse, then was head of the state tax department, before coming to head up the Turnpike.

NOTE: Don't bother telling us we got the accounting firm's name wrong. They've got it wrong, not us. The name's way too long, ridiculously so. Overlong names get the end lopped off in TOLLROADSnews. Thus Lockheed Something-or-Other, Inc is just Lockheed here. No Inc or Mr or clutter of superfluous dots here either. Editorial discretion.

TOLLROADSnews 2008-11-09