SALEM — The privilege of crossing the Massachusetts border could start costing drivers some cash, much to the dismay of elected officials in town.
State Department of Transportation Commissioner George Campbell met with Sen. Mike Downing, R-Salem, and town selectmen last week to talk tolls. The state's Interstate 93-widening project faces a $240 million shortfall that is part of $800 million in unfunded capital highway and bridge projects in the state.
"(Campbell) is not necessarily out there advocating for tolls, but he has a very expensive project that would not be completed until sometime around 2033 unless he gets some funding," DOT spokesman Bill Boynton said.
One option is tolls. Campbell told the group that he intended to apply for a federal pilot program that allows tolls on up to three existing interstate highways to fund reconstruction or rehabilitation projects. There is one spot left, and the DOT intends to apply for it, Boynton said.
"We need to do it by late spring or early summer," Boynton said. "It's likely we will apply. We haven't totally decided to do it, but we're heading in that direction."
The tolls would be placed between the Massachusetts border and Exit 1 and could cost $1.50. They would be open-road tolls or electronic tolls, Boynton said.
Downing said that as a border town, Salem depends heavily on traffic traveling along I-93 from Massachusetts.
"We rely heavily on our commercial traffic, the retail businesses specifically, but the state as a whole relies on tourism," he said. "You want to get those people into those areas as quickly or as efficiently as possible so they can enjoy the state and actually spend their money."
And to beat the tolls, traffic on the town's already strained secondary roads could increase.
"To circumvent that tollbooth, anybody living in the area would know you go down 28," Downing said. "There's a number of ways to get around it but it all puts traffic on secondary roads."
Selectmen Chairman Arthur Barnes said he understood the state's problem.
"We sort of have the same problem in town: too many roads and bridges and not enough dollars to repair them," he said.
But the toll project could make Salem's problem worse, he said. The town already needs to spend roughly $70 million to repair roads and bridges to a level that would not add substantial wear and tear to the Public Works Department's equipment.
"You put additional traffic on the roads, additional wear, and it sends that number northwards," he said.
Selectman Everett McBride said the board, which is unanimously opposed to the plan, was drafting a memo to send to the state. He said he thought it would lead people to visit other border areas, such as Plaistow, where there are no tolls in the way.
"With all due respects to the commissioner and their staff, they're dead wrong," he said.
He said it would be very costly for the many people in Salem who commute to work in Massachusetts and many would avoid I-93, which was put in place to ease traffic on local roads.
"At night when people are coming home, they'll be getting off the highway and causing more problems than they're solving," he said.
Selectman Michael Lyons said the easy-to-beat toll would be inconsistent with the system in other areas of the state.
"In the rest of the state, it's very hard to defeat the toll, or it's very inconvenient," he said. "...You got to really drive out of your way to save the two bucks."
Other options for funding the road could include increasing a current fee or tax, such as the gas tax, the rooms and meals tax, or motor vehicle registration fees. The tolls would require approval from the legislature.
Salem Democratic Town Committee Chairwoman Laurel Redden said Salem's state representatives need to fight hard against the tolls.
"We have such, it seems, poor representation in this commuter triangle that we seem to be the first guys they'll throw off the bus if need be," she said.
Barnes said the commissioner has always kept Salem in the loop in the past and that he expects to be updated on any progress.
"As those plans develop we can begin to fine-tune our objections," he said.
During a discussion of the toll plan at last night's selectmen meeting, board member Elizabeth Roth urged residents to become involved in the discussion.
"They can't be apathetic about this," she said.
Roth said she thought that money could have been brought in through expanded gambling instead. She said the commissioner seemed adamant about applying for the money. If the state receives it, it may be too late to convince anybody to give up the amount of toll revenue it could bring in each year.
"If it's $35 million, that's hard to turn away," she said.
State Rep. D.J. Bettencourt, R-Salem, also spoke out against the tolls at last night's meeting.
"Citizens need to get fired up about this, and they need to make their opinions known," he said.
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