SALEM — Those who oppose border tolls on Interstate 93 may be able to breathe a sigh of relief: Gov. John Lynch does not think the idea will come to fruition.
"I don't believe it's going to happen and I've never endorsed it," Lynch said yesterday after speaking at the annual Ganley luncheon at the Boys & Girls Club of Salem.
A $2 toll between the state border and Exit 1 has been proposed as a way for the state to raise money for the cash-strapped I-93 widening project. The project, which also would replace bridges and reconstruct interchanges, is slated to cost $780 million.
Lynch said the state Department of Transportation considered many options to fund the I-93 project.
"I've never supported the tolls, but the DOT is doing their due diligence to pay for what I believe should be one project," he said.
Lynch said he thinks the widening of the corridor to four lanes in each direction, from Massachusetts to Manchester, should be treated as a single project — including construction of Exit 4A in Derry. The governor also said he believes that if done as a single project, the widening would be faster and cheaper.
The tolls would only be possible if the state qualified for the last remaining slot in a federal program.
The program allows tolls on an interstate to fund a major capital project. DOT Commissioner George Campbell has said Massachusetts could apply for the toll on its side of I-93, but earlier this month Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said the state has no plans for a toll on I-93.
The toll plan has faced opposition from many in Salem, including selectmen and state representatives.
Selectman Elizabeth Roth met with Lynch in January and spoke with him for about 50 minutes, expressing local opposition to the tolls. Local politicians and activists are concerned the toll would amount to a tax on commuters and tourists, and steer people off the highway onto Salem's roads, further burdening the town's infrastructure.
A group of activists have protested the tolls, holding up signs along the interstate near different exits over the past several months. Tuesday, a group of about five protesters waited outside Windham Town Hall with large anti-toll signs so Campbell would see them when he arrived for an unrelated meeting.
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