The funds collected will also extend to speeding tickets, They will soon be looking at travel times from toll to toll. Get to the next toll too quickly, and a speeding ticket will arrive in the mail.

Yes tolls should be on I 93 and the removed tolls from the Mass Pike should be returned. No one should get a "free" ride.

Tolls on Rt 93 would be more than fair -- they would be an equalizer. Why should Metrowest people be bearing most of the cost of highways and people who drive north get off free. Further, the fact that it requires tools just to get into NH or Maine makes it a no-brainer that there should at least be tolls ENTERING Massachusetts!!

Increase the tolls everywhere. Raise the gas tax. Encourage people to leave their cars at home.

"No one should get a free ride"? Are you kidding me? Tolls throughout the state should be gone by now. The tolls were put in place to pay for the original construction of the highway(s). That has been paid off for years now. The government likes this source of revenue and kept it to support other spending. Revenue is not the problem. Spending is.

I think the state should install tolls on I-93. The money would go to the future planned widening of the Highway. What? You people thought you could get away with keeping travel in the breakdown lane during peak hours. Well guess what the FHWA has a rule about that. The rule is they will allow a breakdown travel lane only if a DOT has a plan in the future to widen the highway (like on 128 right now) Currently the plan is to widen the highway from Route 129 in Wilmington to the New Hampshire Border.

Early estimates put that project in the $300 - $700 Million range. That includes $148 Million to construct a new interchange in Tewksbury.

We need to begin better funding in transportation not just at the state level but also the Federal Level.

Next Year call on Congress & the Senate to Finally approve a Multi-Year Transportation Surface Bill. Not an extension like we have had for the last 3 Years. States need to know that they will have funding later down the road to fund major projects.

The tolls also should go to finally redoing the clover-leaf interchange at I-95/I-93 in Woburn. But again estimates for that place it at $256 Million.

And I don't know why people complain. Go through Virginia or New York. You travel through high speed tolls and in express lanes. Your still paying money and it is basicly a toll.

Somehow the vast majority of our country manages to run its highway system without tolls. It's only in the NY/NJ/PA/NE area that tolls are so prevalent. I say get rid of them entirely, and when necessary, raise the gas tax to pay for highway maintenance.

Im all for tolls as long as the state doesnt mismanage the money...

The next thing in the works is a one cent per mile tax on the mileage you drive in a year. To be monitored when you drive in for the yearly inspection. All the info will be sent to the State Database. The money will go to help keep the MBTA afloat. Already being discussed.

Going fishing now.. about to land a big one... :) :)

Install tolls if you want!! I can afford them! You'll see my flying through those tolls in my Maserati baby! woo!!!

Doesn't MAP-21 prohibit tolling of interstate highways except in instances of new construction? MAP-21, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century, is the new surface transportation authorization bill which just took effect October 1.

It is fair to toll the same on the Mass Pike as on I93 if MAP-21 does not prohibit it. Did the Governor offer some hope on this issue?

Assuming the legal issue is cleared up,
1) I'd like some indication that we have reformed our transportation spending before we collect new revenue to do "more of the same" (that is, what got us into the $19 billion in deferred maintenance hole in the first place). I don't see the creation of MassDOT as sufficient solution to the spending problem.
2) I'd like some guarantee that the tolls paid by drivers actually go toward maintenance and repair of the existing transportation system rather than funding expansion projects. If we can't maintain what we have, it's counterproductive to build more.

What is happening to all the taxes we are already paying for roads and bridges?