Maine Turnpike Authority pushes on with fight for big new ORT + cash toll plaza

Relying on engineers' advice the Maine Turnpike is renewing its 5-year long fight with local residents to get permits for a big new south-end toll plaza comprising open road toll (ORT) lanes down the center and cash toll lanes to the sides (ORT + cash). A huge tome dated Nov 5 2009 and prepared by HNTB engineers - the Turnpike's general engineering consultants - is being submitted to the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for a Phase One approval covering the existing site near York at Mile Marker 7.3 (MM7.3), and new sites a bit north at MM8.7 and MM9.1.

January 21 the Turnpike plans a meeting in York where both local residents and the York Board of Selectmen (town council) are strongly opposed to all three plans.

HNTB engineers have trimmed the proposed width of the new toll plaza in an effort to reduce the 'take' of houses and other impacts.

But a position paper unanimously adopted by the York selectmen says the plan for a new ORT + cash plaza is wasteful and argues for sticking with the present 17-lane stop-to-pay/roll-through toll plaza and development of a plan to transition to all-electronic tolling (AET) within ten years.

The York position paper says the proposed new sites for toll plazas at MM8.7 and MM9.1 are too close to the town water supply and note that the York Water District opposes them.

An evaluation matrix in the USACE submission (Table 4.1) shows medium and high "potential stream impacts" at MM8.7 and MM9.1 chosen by HNTB as options to advance.

Both are in even more swampy or stream-covered areas than the existing toll plaza at MM7.3 (Fig 4.8, 4.10) although they take no homes and are on the straight highway alignment recommended for slow cash lanes.

The existing MM7.3 site has three stream crossings versus four at each of the proposed new locations (MM8.7 and MM9.1).

Most important toll plaza in Maine

The existing York toll plaza at MM7.3 (just over 7 miles, 12km north of the New Hampshire line) is by far the most important on the Maine Turnpike, making some $34m or 40% of its annual revenue on some on an average 44k transactions/day.

58% of vehicles at the York plaza have E-ZPass transponders, 80% of the trucks, the submission says.  

Built some 20 years after the Turnpike opened in 1949 the York plaza began with 11 toll lanes and has since expanded to its present 17 lanes.

Existing plaza a mess

The present York toll plaza is a disgrace to earlier Turnpike engineers and their consultants since it was poorly located on a curve in the highway, close to an interchange, and partially in a swamp.

The curve reduces motorists sight distance on approach.

Closeness to the interchange generates weaving problems.

And the swamp location made construction of plaza pavement and structures more difficult.

On top of all that the toll plaza was poorly built with insufficient foundation pilings. 

Bumpers separating toll lanes and protecting booths have sunk because of the poor foundation design.

Toll booths and a staff tunnel are pokey and in bad shape.

Alternatives

HNTB, the Turnpike's general engineering consultants in their submission to USACE have costed various alternatives at or near the present location at MM7.3:

Option 1: Maintenance only to fix worst problems, "No build" at MM7.3: $12.3m

Option 2: Infrastructure Upgrade, rebuilding 17 slow toll lanes to modern standards in a slightly widened version of the existing toll plaza area 1.5 acres at MM7.3: $23m

Option 3: Upgrade plaza as in Opt 2 but add separate toll lanes for ramps to nearby interchange to alleviate weaving problems, taking 6.3 acres extra land at MM7.3: $40.9m

Option 4A: 6 open road toll (ORT) lanes in center and 13 slow cash lanes including 4 ramp lanes requiring more land again 8 acres at existing MM7.3 site: $56.3m

Option 4B: Opt 4A with 6 ORT lanes, and 9 slow cash lanes, but excluding the 4 separate interchange ramp lanes, 3.3 acres extra land at MM7.3: $43m

Options 6 and 7 involve relocating the highway and straightening it but they require taking of scores of houses, 100 acres or more and cost $155m and $106m. Options 8 and 9 rebuilding the toll plaza into the York interchange cost $118m and $95m.

They recommend to the USACE that Options 1, 4A be carried forward and compared to ORT + Cash toll plazas built anew at sites a mile or so up the road at MM8.7 and MM9.1. No official estimate yet of the cost of ORT + cash plazas at the two new locations but it seems likely to be similar to Option 4B but with more land to be acquired so somewhere in the $40m to $50m range.

In a presentation they show idealized toll plazas of:

- 535ft (163m) with 4 ORT lanes and 19 cash lanes

- 435ft (133m) with 6 ORT lanes and 15 cash lanes

- 335ft (102m) with 6 ORT lanes and 9 cash lanes

These compare with the present 17 cash lane toll plaza of 295ft (90m).

They suggest their proposed construction is modest by choosing to advance the 335ft (102m) 6 ORT and 9 cash lanes at the new sites MM8.7 and MM9.1.

November 5 HNTB presentation on submittal to US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE):

http://www.maineturnpike.com/pdf/SouthToll/MTA%20HNTB%20Recommend.pdf

TOMORROW: HNTB rules out open road tolling in Maine, compromise possible.

TOLLROADSnews 2010-01-05