Boston Globe editorial argues the Mass. Pike needs new tolls
An editorial in Wednesday’s Boston Globe calls for the tolling system along the Massachusetts Turnpike to be overhauled with more efficient technologies.
The editorial argues that technology that would enhance the flow of traffic on the Pike is available, but Massachusetts has lagged in implementing it for at least three years.
The current system of toll booths, which includes cash-only and E-ZPass lanes at the Weston and Allston plazas, causes traffic snarls as motorists try to navigate into the correct lanes and reduce speeds to 15 mph.
The Globe editorial notes that policymakers in neighboring New Hampshire have implemented systems that collects toll charges without requiring drivers to slow down.
A similar system has been in place at the Tobin Bridge since 2014. An overhead tolling system replaced toll booths to communicate with E-ZPass transponders. Those who don’t have transponders are mailed a bill instead.
At the earliest, according to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, a more efficient tolling system would be implemented on the Pike in late 2017 or early 2018.
From The Boston Globe:
“That’s a change which has been too long in coming. The state should do its utmost to hold to that schedule. Pike drivers have long deserved more. At this late juncture, they certainly deserve no less.’’
Read the full Globe editorial here.
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