Governor puts case for abolition of Mass Turnpike Authority, 3M scheme for DMV to toll

After weeks of leaks, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has publicly put his case for abolition of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (MTA). Published in the Boston Globe (op-ed page Nov 13) the Governor says previous administrations saddled the Turnpike with unsupportable debt, handed out jobs based on patronage, diverted capital funds for current salaries, and left no viable plan for the future.

He says the implementation of his plan to reorganize the Turnpike will take several years, and require support.

Patrick: "We need to take the first steps now, by eliminating the Turnpike Authority, reassigning its responsibilities, and restructuring its debt. The Turnpike Authority once served a useful purpose, but Massachusetts no longer needs an independent authority running one toll highway."

He said the bureaucracy of state transport operations in the state is duplicative and needs to be radically simplified to reduce overhead costs. He proposes turning over the metropolitan Boston part of the Turnpike and the harbor tunnels to Massport, the short name for the Massachusetts Port Authority. He would transfer the Turnpike west of Boston (from MA128/I-95 west) to the state Highways Department (Mass Highways) with all-electronic tolling to be done by  the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

"Within two years, we will remove the tolls on the Pike west of Route 128 and transfer the turnpike to the Highway Department," Patrick writes.

Border tolls to be installed

Patrick proposes to help support the maintenance of the Turnpike West with new toll points at the New York State line on I-90 and on the Connecticut border on I-84. He would abolish the trip or ticket system from western Massachusetts to MA128/I-95 where the metropolitan highway portion of the Turnpike begins.

State motor vehicle registry to "explore" all-electronic tolling

"Meanwhile," says the Governor, "the Registry of Motor Vehicles will explore advancements in toll collection. Technology, like transponders embedded in registration stickers, can keep vehicles moving through tollbooths (here he surely means toll lanes or toll points since he cannot mean retaining booths - EDITOR)  providing both environmental benefits and long-term savings."

Spreading Big Dig debt around

Patrick foreshadows using state revenues and supposed administrative savings to carry some of the cost of the Big Dig debt:

"Restructuring the Big Dig debt will involve spreading the burden more equitably through a combination of tolls, Massport revenues, registry fees, and savings from eliminating the Turnpike Authority."

Toll increases short run

The Governor says there have to be toll increases now:

"There is simply no way around an increase in tolls in the short run. That is an unfortunate fact. But the time has come to stop relying on tolls alone to pay Big Dig debt."

He says longterm the goal is to eliminate all tolls except at the harbor tunnels and at entry points to the state. That would mean removing the mainline toll plaza at MA128 and ramp plazas on the metro section of the Turnpike.

Patrick says the plan needs the support of the legislature and the public and the cooperation of the boards of the Turnpike and Massport.

see http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/11/13/redirecting_our_transport_system/

COMMENT: The Turnpike Authority is one of the state's most unloved agencies and its demise will elicit few regrets.

However Gov Patrick's plan is ill-conceived and probably unworkable.

Concentrating tolls at state borders will likely face challenges in the courts as an unconstitutional obstruction to interstate trade and contravention of the 14th amendment's equal protection clause. The founding fathers were concerned to put an end to precisely this kind of imposition by states of their costs on out-of-state travelers and traders.

Even if the courts allow it there will be problems levying tolls at the borders high enough to pay for maintenance of over a hundred miles of highway without diverting traffic onto inefficient and unsafe surface arterials and generating traffic nuisance in border communities.

In addition high border tolls would divert traffic to untolled, but less direct interstates.

High tolls at the New York State line could see a diversion of traffic to US20 through Pittsfield to the north and through MA23 through Great Barrington to the south. Truck through-traffic can be banned of course but such bans are difficult and expensive to enforce. Shippers using the port of Boston might find the port of New York or Halifax NS a better deal.

A toll at the Connecticut border on I-84 would see a diversion west to I-91 going through the Springfield area and to the east via I-395 and more miles traveled - hardly a tenable plan for a 'green' governor.

3M's quiet lobbying

The 3M company of Minneapolis has been quietly lobbying state motor registries to adopt the license plate tag concept mentioned by Gov Patrick. The company has a close relationship with motor vehicles registries in many states through supplying the coating for license plates and the plastic sheet of registration stickers. These lobbyists have been showing mockups of sticker tags and and license plates incorporating a transponder chip surreptitiously in an effort to gain business at the expense of toll industry suppliers of sticker tags like TransCore and Sirit.

3M has made no public announcement of any toll technology product, but there are industry reports that they are doing the rounds of state capitals showing mockups of RFID toll chips in registration stickers and license plates. There are no known tests of the performance of any 3M toll tag.

(The 3M man we know has been pitching the toll registration/license plate tag won't respond to our inquiries, suggesting they want to stay in the shadows. EDITOR)

E-ZPass IAG

Massachusetts as a member of the E-ZPass Inter Agency Group (IAG) could not use the 3M technology mentioned by the Governor without its acceptance by that multi-state toll cooperative. The IAG is notorious for its conservatism and slowness in adopting new products and there is no indication 3M has any product to submit for bid to the IAG in the current E-ZPass recompete.

No 3M tag would be viable unless it were adopted by many states. A Massachusetts plate tag couldn't for example be used on the New York State Thruway without IAG adoption. So far motor vehicle registeries have been deterred from adopting the technology by a fear of the 'big brother' civil liberties outcry. Toll transponders like E-ZPass and its Massachusetts brand Fast Lane are voluntary.

Long run is not in my term

Making toll abolition on the Metro Turnpike a "long run" objective is a clear sign the $-numbers don't pencil out. Here the Governor is hoping to gain accolades for an idea whose cost he will leave to his successors.

Abolishing tolls on major inner city arterial routes like I-90 is a step backward because it will cause traffic volumes to increase and congestion to worsen, leaving no revenue stream to pay for widening.

Free roads, especially in congested urban areas are an outdated idea - they are financially and environmentally untenable. Time-of-day variable pricing is the only way to manage traffic and finance some improvements in urban road capacity. All-electronic tolling should be deployed, Singapore-style, on all the major arteries - I-90, I-93, I-495, MA128/I-95, US1, MA3 etc - to make cities like Boston competitive, convenient and sustainable, and to spread costs fairly across all communities.

TOLLROADSnews 2008-11-12