WBZ-TV Channel 4 reported tonight that a new overhead toll collection device will soon charge drivers 40 cents to use Exit 16 in West Newton.
WBZ’s Joe Shortleeve does get at least one thing wrong: It’s not a new toll. There used to be a booth there before Gov. Bill Weld had it torn down in 2006.
Great. All we need to do to fix this is install a 50¢ collection device on Washington Street.
Its true Adam that returning a toll to West Newton will likely result in motorists opting to cut through West Newton, Newtonville and Newton Corner. Back when Weld removed the tolls, the concern was that it would divert traffic from 1-95 past Newton-Wellesley Hospital and into West Newton to avoid the toll at 1-95/Mass Pike near Auburndale. I know I’m guilty of that.
Government shouldn’t lie to its citizens and especially to its taxpayers. We were promised by the Government of Massachusetts that when the Turnpike bonds were paid for, the toll booths would be coming down.
http://blog.motorists.org/a-permanent-temporary-source/
Joshua’s point is a good one and I don’t understand why it is ignored or why there isn’t a stronger movement from people living West to get rid of it or at least spread the burden to the North and South. Why no tolls on 93? Also, I thought I read that the Mass Turnpike Authority gives to charities? So our tolls are for their charitable contributions?
I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining, because as a general rule I think tolls can be positive, if they can be adjusted for peak times, etc.
However, I’m remain confused as to why there are tolls on the Pike but not on 93. Didn’t the people (federal and local) invest huge amounts of money to update 93 and submerge it? Why aren’t the drivers of that roadway asked to pay as well?
Joshua has a good point. But Weld’s stunt of taking down the toll both on at West Newton, and not at 128, resulted in a change in driver’s behavior.
The removal of the toll resulted in an increase in traffic issues in the area. Traffic became much heavier on Washington Street as drivers from I-95N took this route to avoid the 128 toll. (as Greg does) This redirection increased when the toll at 128 increased to $1.
The West Newton on-ramp can’t handle the heavier load with its ancient merge design. That leaves traffic backed-up on Washington Street and a bottleneck on Eastbound traffic on the Pike.
Putting the toll back fixes a problem. Don’t remove the toll until the 128 toll is removed.
Did I understand correctly that this will be an electronic toll booth. If a vehicle does not have an E-ZPass, the state will send a bill to the owner of the vehicle? So the toll collectors will become bill collectors instead? At least they will be warmer inside a state building. And the owner of the vehicle will need to take action to recoup the toll from whomever borrowed his/her vehicle? What will be the cost to administer this new process? At 40 cents per transaction, this seems like a losing proposition.
Boy, does this sound like a typical MA state government mess. At least the state is “honoring” the commitment to take the toll booths down; they will just collect the tolls without the booths.
As far as I can tell, local officials are totally in the dark about this. I share the concerns of my colleagues on the north side of the city that the traffic on Washington Street from I-95 to Newton Corner (Exit 17) is only going to get worse as drivers who now get on at West Newton to avoid the tolls (Greg is not the only one by a long shot) will travel the rest of the way along Washington Street to Newton Corner once the toll collectors are installed.
Wow. It’s troubling to think that perhaps the state was moving forward on this without consulting the city or even perhaps that the city knew but hadn’t informed the aldermen, especially the aldermen from that ward.
@Patrick: The entire toll system is moving towards this electronic system so it won’t be as if one would be billed for this one toll only. Other states do that now, it’s not a bad concept.
Greg, thank you for the added information. The state has a very poor reputation when it comes to operating fiscally sound toll highways so I will wait to see if there will be an improvement.
As seen in this globe article (barely-legible map at the end): http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/downtown/2013/08/state_250m_project_will_let_drivers_travel_at_normal_highway.html
It looks like these high-speed tolls will be on the highway itself — not at the exit — between West Newton and Newton Corner. It also looks like there will be another high-speed toll between Newton Corner and the current Allston tolls, and one just after.
Thanks, Doug. I did not know about this meeting last year. But the article seemed to say there were going to be fewer toll collectors, not more. By the way, these hi-speed toll collectors work well, reduce backups on toll roads, and are long overdue here in MA. We go to Maine a lot, and I remember after NH installed two lanes with hi-speed tolls on I-95 that the traffic backups all but disappeared even on holiday weekends.
Greg, I don’t know why the local elected officials were not informed but I am trying to find out. I also heard from Ald. Cote who is likewise concerned about the traffic in West Newton, and from Ald. Lennon, who has a similar concern about the placement of toll collectors making the traffic at the Newton Corner on and off ramp even worse than it already is. Ald. Lennon has contacted Newton’s state delegation looking for answers about the state’s process and whether there would be an opportunity for the public to weigh in. If I hear anything I will give you a holler.
Here’s a few added details from the Globe plus follow-up from WBZ, complete with the obligatory clueless
manpersons in thestreetcar interview…Another big win with the high speed tolling is it saves a tremendous amount of gasoline and associated pollution. Having every car on the Turnpike come to a stop and then accelerate back up to highway speed is a terrible way to collect a toll.
If Newton is coming to realize that new tolls are added taxation, then that should be very helpful in any discussion about trash fees.
Thank you Kim & Doug C.
Instead of “electronic high-speed tolling”, why not eliminate the tolls altogether. The MBTA wastes $250 Million annually on mismanaged spending for maintenance.
http://pioneerinstitute.org/news/the-mbtas-out-of-control-bus-maintenance-costs/
Like Newton, Massachusetts doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a pathologically obsessive spending problem.
Hoss, if Newton adds new trash fees without offsetting people’s property taxes with a permanent underride to the levy limit, then it is a tax increase.
Furthermore, I wouldn’t trust Newton’s elected officials if they were to propose adding new trash fees, but offsetting it with a property tax reduction because I don’t believe that they would follow through on the property tax reduction.
Aha, all the details are in here: http://www.env.state.ma.us/mepa/mepadocs/2013/072413em/nps/enf/15080.pdf
Page 46 shows the proposed Newtonville location, just west of Lowell Ave overpass. Brighton location looks to be right opposite Community Rowing.
I agree that it’s outrageous that people using the Pike are required to pay tolls but not those using the very expensive north-south arteries.
BTW, NYC has switched to the no-stop tolls. I visited my mother a few months ago and got a bill in the mail for the toll for a bridge I’d crossed. More efficient, though a little creepy.
Here’s a great example of government speak (and a reason why the world needs editors) from a story on the WCVB site..
The world needed an editor at the top of the thread too — where is says Weld did something in 2006
Here is an even better example of “government speak” from the masters of plausible deniability.
Yes but they were kidding.
According to the document Doug L posted, MassDOT alerted the following offices in Newton about the move to electronic tolling and where they would be located: Office of the Mayor, Planning Board, Conservation Commission, Board of Health. Not the Board of Aldermen, even though in Boston, the City Council did make the cut as to who got notification.
However if we had gotten notice last summer, the document only lists one e-tolling location in Newton and now it appears we will get two.
Emily, in August 2013, David Olson forwarded a notification from DOT of the MEPA consultation session on the all-electronic toll collection proposal to the Board of Aldermen, but the attachment Doug L provided a link to was not included with the notification. It would have been very helpful to have had the information at the time. The aldermen know all too well about the traffic problems in Auburnddale, West Newton, Newtonville and Newton Corner related to the Masspike after the West Newton toll booths were torn down. Without the information provided in that document, however, none of us knew to ask about potential traffic impacts of installing an eletronic toll collector between Exits 16 (West Newton) and 17 (Newton Corner). Now it appears it is too late to provide any input.
Doug L, you da man. Thank you for the link.
Greg – Would you really get off at exit 17, which is a nightmare under any circumstances, and travel through three village centers (that would be at least 7 sets of traffic signals) to save 40 cents?
Jane: I was referring to getting off of Exit 21 on I-95/Route 128 near the hospital and getting on the Pike in West Newton if I was going to, say, Boston.
But since I live on the south side of the city it’s always a choice between getting off at Newton Corner and cutting across Newton Center or Newtonville or getting off in West Newton and cutting across Chestnut or another street…so yeah it would be an added incentive.
40 cents isn’t much but for someone who does it daily (I don’t), that’s $208 annually based on a five day work week. Plus we all know from experience that it won’t stop at 40 cents.
Greg, we know that a lot of commuters headed downtown get off I-95 at Route 16 and get on the Masspike in West Newton so they can avoid paying $1.25 at the Weston tolls. This leads to backups on Route 16 all the way to Newton-Welleseley Hospital and on connecting roads like Auburn Street in Auburndale and West Newton. So I would not be surprised if commuters were to continue up Washington Street to Newton Corner just to save another 40 cents. That way, they would save $1.65 both ways or $3.30 a day. I also know a lot of people who use the Masspike during offpeak hours to get between West Newton and Newton Centre who will probably end up on local roads to avoid the tolls.
I was talking to Martine Powers at the Boston Globe about this today, and I told her that it is totally unfair that the tolls for commuters from the west of Boston will increase to pay for the Big Dig while the commuters from north and south of Boston who benefit the most from the Big Dig don’t have to pay a toll on I-93. Joshua and others are absolutely correct that the Masspike should have been paid for years ago and the tolls abolished, but instead the state continues to charge tolls to use the Masspike to pay for the Big Dig.
Funny, the complaints from the Aldermen about the state meeting sound a lot like resident complaints about being unaware of board meetings! The move to electronic tolls was hardly a secret. Toll locations (minus exit 16) and the environmental report were mentioned in a Globe article last August. The environmental review was a public meeting. Note that the published plan (Newton toll only in Newtonville) seems to collect the same toll amount whether you use the West Newton exit or stay on until 128. If anything that would have provided an incentive to stay on the pike past West Newton. That’s already different from what’s there today. Anything that changes the calculus of people using the Pike deserves the attention of the city administration and state reps. Perhaps the exit 16 tolls are a stop-gap measure until the Newtonville tolls are in place?
The net impact of the additional toll at exit 16 is unclear, but there’s a hidden benefit to Newton once the rest of the tolls are in place. Even though users may be paying more, the benefit of the new system (and the incentive to get on the Pike and stay on the Pike) will be far greater, at any cost, without backups at the Weston and Allston tolls.
Adam, the ultimate benefit is a reduction in carbon emissions from reducing wait times at the toll booths, which is all good. It may well be that there is no impact from restoring tolls between Exits 16 and 17. But, speaking for myself, I wish the notice to the aldermen had been more specific. I didn’t read the Boston Globe article at the time, so I did not know about the details of the plan and how it might impact traffic from Lower Falls through Auburndale, West Newton, Newtonville and Newton Corner. I just hope that the city officials who did know about it asked the right questions.
So you’d go through 4 sets of lights, the traffic on Washington St. to save 40 cents. I just don’t get it. How many times a week do you buy a cup of coffee rather than brew it at home? If you tell me you brew it at home at least 4 times a week, then I guess that 40 cents really is important to you.
It’s 40 cents, guys. My time is worth more than that.
And what is the reason that the Mayors office kept it quiet since August of 2013??
Jane – at rush hour, drivers often have an additional incentive to get of at exit 17 — traffic is at a stand still.
Ted – right, not like the board could do anything anyways. It’s not even clear the city has any say here. The hearing was limited to environmental matters.
But in case it wasn’t clear, in the proposal, the Weston tolls shift from collecting east of 128 (between exits 14 and 16) to several miles west of 128 near the state police (between exits 13 and 14). Newtonville is where cars from 128 to Boston would see their first toll.
If this works out, the impact could go far beyond elimination of emissions at tollbooths. If the Pike is no longer congested at rush hour due to Allston and Weston tolls, drivers would have a lot more incentive to use it and get off our city streets.
Adam, from your lips to God’s ears.
Jane, did you ever commute daily to Boston on the Masspike before, during or after the Big Dig? If you had, you might have a different perspective.
I commuted downtown for many years on the Masspike by car (when I had to) and MBTA express bus (most of the time). Depending on the backup at the West Newton onramp, I would often take the local roads to Newton Corner and get on there and save 5 or 10 minutes. I live close enough to walk (1 mile away) so I also took the commuter rail from West Newton. All I know is that after the West Newton tolls were demolished, traffic on Route 16 got markedly worse overnight. People are willing to creep along in stop and go traffic from I-95 to Exit 16, through multiple traffic lights, just to save $1.25. Why shouldn’t they clog Washington Street to save another 80 cents a day?
Ted – We’ve all travelled the Pike in and out of Boston too many times to count. If people choose to get into a traffic jam every day to save 40 cents, then they’ve made a choice. Not a choice I’d make, but we all have different priorities. But let’s be clear that people who choose to get into the same traffic jam day after day to save 40 cents should take responsibility for that decision.
@mgwa, how long did it take to get the bill for that NYC toll? I went over possibly the same bridge (associated with the Henry Hudson parkway?) over two months ago, in April, and it said I would be mailed a bill, but I haven’t received it.
I absolutely agree there should not be tolls on the Pike into Boston when there are no tolls on 93. And I can’t believe the state got away with extending the tolls by refinancing the bonds instead of paying them off. High-speed tolling isn’t the only way to reduce gas consumption. Getting rid of the tolls, I’d say east of Framingham, would reduce toll booth congestion without moving the congestion to local roads. Through traffic should have an incentive to use highways instead of local roads, not the other way around.
If drivers are willing to endure the current congestion on Washington Street between 128 and West Newton to avoid a $1.25 toll, I think they will do the same to avoid the Newtonville toll, and the higher the toll is, the more they will want to avoid it. A more effective way to get people on 128 to go through the Weston toll instead of taking Washington Street would be to reduce the Weston toll to a trivial amount, if there is to be a toll at all.
@Julia – I don’t remember how long, but it was quite awhile. I’d completely forgotten about it by the time I got the bill.
On the issue of Pike vs. north/south tolls. One of the arguments against N/S tolls has been the traffic jams that would be caused by adding toll booths. Given the move to automatic electronic toll collection that doesn’t require cars to slow down, it seems like it’s time for the N/S commuters to carry their share of the load, especially since they’re the ones who benefit from the Big Dig.
Jane, you are missing the point. I’ve gone through West Newton and observed the Masspike every weekday f0r the past 18 years. At rush hour, the Masspike is usually a parking lot from West Newton to Newton Corner. Commuters are travelling through West Newton, Newtonville and Newton Corner everyday to AVOID the traffic. That is my observation, and as Yogi Berra said, you can observe a lot by watching. With the restoration of tolls between Exit 16 and Exit 17, I think it is reasonable to assume even more commuters will travel over local roads between West Newton and Newton Corner. My question to city and state officials is “how many commuters do you project will travel over local roads through Newton at rush hour and what impact will that have on traffic?” I believe it is a reasonable question.
My point is that people aren’t going to change their behavior over 40 cents, which is where this discussion began and my only point. If drivers get off the Pike to avoid traffic, they’ll continue to do so. If they sit on the Pike will continue to do so. 40 cents isn’t going to make a difference.
@/Joshua. Don’t expect the tolls to go away anytime soon. I was stationed in the Navy in Washington D.C. in late 1961 and we would regularly drive to Boston for a weekend at least once a month. The toll on the Delware Memorial Bridge was around 50 cents, and there was a big sign promising that the tolls would be completely eliminated once the initial bonds were paid off in 1964 or 5. I drove over the same bridge a few months back. The tolls are still there, but they are now up to $3.00.
Disagree with you on T maintenance. The T’s big repair facility in Somerville does a masterful job of lathe fashioning spare parts for old trolleys and subway that are no longer produced by the manufacturer. It reminds me of how the Cuban taxi drivers keep their vintage 1950’s American cars running. There was a recent article in the Globe detailing just how innovative the folks at the T are are in keeping a lot of old clunkers on the tracks.
Where is the Mayor on all of this?? Planning his next Junket with the Governor??
I think the new toll collection could improve traffic on the eastern part of the Pike. Lots of the congestion comes from the slowing down at the toll booth in Allston, then having to merge back together and accelerate up the the bridge after the tolls.
I would hope that the toll pattern will remove the incentive to travel on Washington Street to avoid the 128 interchange toll. I think fewer people will make that choice if the financial incentive is removed. That may alleviate pressure
We are still stuck with the inadequate on-ramp in West Newton and off-ramp in Newton Corner.
Well Jane, whom should I believe? You or my own eyes? Commuters will continue to dodge the Weston tolls and flock to West Newton. If there is a backup at Exit 16–as there is every day-given a choice between getting on the Masspike and paying an extra 40 cents or using local roads to get to Exit 17 in Newton Corner, I think a fair number will head to Newton Corner. But whatever the reason, the impact on Washington Street will be the same. Traffic. A lot of it.
I’m not understanding the issue. When traffic is backed up at Newton Corner the local traffic can’t get worse, right? At other times during non-peak hours traffic would logically increase, but in no case would it be greater then peak times. Any increased flow will reduce the flow at West Newton. Where’s the problem? Newton Corner is a business district thus there would be some business benefit including at the gas stations. If traffic is going through residential streets, that is an issue Newton can fix.
Hoss, the problem was easy to see in West Newton at 10AM this morning–traffic on the Masspike was backed up beyond Exit 16 to the Weston tolls, traffic was backed up on Washington Street to Commonwealth Avenue, and traffic was backed up at the Newton Corner off ramp. The eastbound traffic starts to improve immediately after Newton Corner. So there is every incentive for commuters to bypass the West Newton on ramp and head up to Newton Corner on Washington Street. Raising the tolls will only add to that incentive.
It is a daily dance that goes from 7-10 AM and often later. As someone else alluded to, one of the biggest problems with the West Newton on ramp is that three lanes merge down into one and then merge with traffic on the Masspike, causing backups on the Masspike to the Weston tolls and sometimes beyond as well as backups on Washington Street, Auburn Street, Commonwealth Avenue and other connecting roads. (It drives residents on side streets that are used as “cut-throughs” nuts when cars come speeding through trying to beat the light cycle or get around a backup.) In fact, use your Google Maps app right now (10:40 AM) if you have it, and you will see that from Newtonville to Weston, the eastbound lane of the Masspike is solid red–i.e., bumper to bumper traffic.
Ted Hess-Mahan — I see, it’s an inbound issue you’re seeing. Wouldn’t the inbound traffic be much more time sensitive and less influenced by a small toll? In any event, I see you’re point that a local discussion would have been preferred.
Hoss, there is also an outbound issue for Newton commuters. The backup in the afternoon is from Newton Corner to West Newton, so it is sometimes faster to get off at Newton Corner and head up Washington Street to Newtonville, West Newton and beyond. But if you have to get to Framingham, you are unlikely to get off at Newton Corner so the outbound toll probably will not have as profound an impact.
BTW, I just got an email from a West Newton resident who does not own an EZPass transponder who uses the Masspike as a shortcut to get to Newton Corner and back who says she will use local roads once the new toll collector is installed to avoid getting a bill every time she uses it.
I found the 2009 traffic study, with alternatives discussed (including tolls, as they would have been implemented back then). A couple of interesting options (including a new WB off-ramp towards Brighton), each with its benefits and challenges:
http://www.ctps.org/Drupal/data/pdf/studies/highway/NC-Phase-II-Study.pdf
Traffic during rush hour happens. A week ago, I spent 2 hours traveling on Rte 95 from 93 to the Waban exit – a 20 mile stretch of roads with no toll. There was no construction, no accidents – just too many cars and not enough roadway. I have full sympathy for people who have to use these routes to get to work, but to say the cause is tolls flies in the face of reality – we have an aging highway system built at a time when no one could imagine that 2 cars per family would become the norm.
Not so much a rebuttal of Jane’s point above – but for the Newton stretch, never underestimate a Yankee’s determination to avoid a 40-cent bill. I’m already feeling the pull.
Jane, Boston’s highways are over capacity, but forcing traffic to a slow and stop to pay a toll when the roadway is congested means the road has far less capacity than without the tollbooths. There’s no denying it. Tolls aren’t the only source of traffic, but they make things worse. Old exit designs that don’t allow merging at high speeds (e.g. Rt 9 and 128) have similar impacts on traffic.
OTOH, making assumptions about future growth can lead to mistakes, too. Trends are beginning to change and some argue that the government is building too much capacity
…and just because you didn’t see an accident doesn’t mean there wasn’t one.
Can someone explain how the billing for tolls is handled with rental cars? There must be a method in place.
Patrick I am not sure if this was what you are asking, but MassDOT has an FAQ here.
I’ve rented cars in states that employ this type of system and the fees show up on the credit card I used to rent the car. I’m sure there’s some language in the rental agreement you never have time to read while standing in line at the rental desk gives them permission to do this.
Ted and Greg, thank you for the information. I would be leery adding a short-term rental car to my E-ZPass account. I do not understand the need for the 48 hour window identified in the link.
Greg, I have seen the separate charges on my credit cards. It is a hassle aligning them with the appropriate expense reports.
I doubt my concerns / issues will stop this changeover to electronic tolls on the Mass Pike. I also expect once they get the system working on Rt 90, the state will extend it to other interstate highways as a new, added source of tax revenue without any reduction on Rt 90. I will let Josh expound upon that issue.
Adam – I’ve been commenting on the 40 cent toll at one exit in Newton.
Make no mistake, I’m a 150% supporter of automated tolls. The latest configuration of the Hampton tolls has saved on fuel emission, travel time, and congestion. For all our so called progressive values, MA often doesn’t measure up to our northern neighbors when it comes to environmental issues. We spend a lot of time northward, and we just don’t compare when it comes to the care of the environment.
Doug – If saving 40 cents is important to you, then go at it.
As many posters have stated, the original purpose of the tolls were intended to fund the costs of the bridges/tunnels/roadways and once those costs were re-cooped the tolls were to disappear. I can understand the need for them to continue (to a point) for repairs and maintenance but there should be a better system in place for this. First, all tolls should be electronic, there is no need to have toll collectors reaping the benefits of our labor. Second, I do not understand why there are no tolls coming into the city from 93 North and from the Quincy area, having tolls into the city from these two areas would just about double what comes in now. By putting up electronic tolls in these two additional areas the state should able to reduce each toll in half which makes it a much easier pill to swallow for all of us commuters. Just and FYI so you know where I am coming from, I travel into the city from the North Shore, depending on the traffic I would say I come over the Tobin 80% of the time and the other 20 through the Callahan Tunnel.
I’ll repeat the most important part of this rant: Why are there no Tolls coming into the city from 93N and South from the Quincy area.