Federal regulators reject Maine Turnpike's York toll plaza plan - ask for more on AET, split plaza etc

Federal regulators have - as expected - refused to accept the Maine Turnpike's Phase 2 proposed short list of alternatives for a new toll plaza near York by the southern end of the Turnpike. Jay L Clement of the New England District of the Army Corps of Engineers writes "we are unable to concur with your recommended short list…." He says "a higher degree of scrutiny is warranted" in light of the strong local opposition to the project.

The Turnpike Authority's proposed short list of alternatives was for open road tolling (ORT) plus cash to either side, at new sites, which required major takings of land and encroachment on wetlands, and cost between $34m and $56m.

The city of York, a home owner group WHOA, and a protest group Think Again hired their own consultants mostly arguing for all-electronic tolling (AET) at the site of the existing toll plaza. AET would reduce the impacts of toll collection as compared to increasing impacts under the Turnpike plan.

Discuss options for out of state toll collection

Jay Clement's letter has pages of questions he wants answered by the Turnpike to justify its plan, but the most difficult to answer probably relate to AET v ORT+cash.

On the Turnpike's claim that $8.84m a year or 26% of its revenue could be lost to out-of-state scofflaws  without cash collection the chief federal regulator asks for a discussion of "strategies to address out of state toll collection."

He also asks about potential losses from the ORT component of the Turnpike's ORT+cash plan: "What is the percent loss in revenue with high speed electronic toll collection within the context of a mixed tolling arrangement? What are other states experience with this option?"

Why not AET + Option for Cash

The federal regulator also asks for consideration of an AET option with a design allowing for the addition of cash collection later in the event that 'leakage' exceeded acceptable thresholds or could not be addressed by other methods.

Clement also questions the rejection of certain sites and raises scores of issues with the submission.

He also asks the town of York, Think Again and others for more materials on their stance.

HNTB are advising the Turnpike Authority and eTrans Group is advising the town of York.

Here is a copy of the letter from ACE:

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/sites/default/files/ACE.pdf

earlier report:

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/4623

see Maine Turnpike Authority documents:

http://www.maineturnpike.com/about/stp.php

see rival Think Again groups documents inluding eTrans report:

http://www.thinkagain2008.com

TOLLROADSnews 2010-06-04