New tolls, new woes may hit Mass. drivers

BOSTON. Bay State drivers are paying more at the pump, and they may soon be paying more at the toll plaza.

This summer, the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority will mull over a host of new tolling options across the state to boost revenue, including the installation of tolls along Interstate 93 and on the Zakim Bridge. A working group the agency ordered to study toll equity and traffic across the state has provided 37 initial toll options for the board to consider.

Those options also include increasing tolls at existing plazas, adding plazas along the Mass Pike in West Newton and between exits 1 and 6, congestion pricing (setting different rates during different times of day) and modifying the Fast Lane discount. The Turnpike has also requested a tally of the number of drivers that enter the city via I-93 and the Zakim Bridge from the working group, to help determine which options make the most sense.

Yesterday, Turnpike board chairman and state Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen said neither he nor the board has yet endorsed any of the options. But he said “everything is on the table.”

“We need to look in all corners. Whether we will find the money in all corners, I don’t know,” Cohen said. By the end of the summer, “we should be in much better position to recommend the way forward,” he added.

Though the idea for tolls on I-93 — which has come up before and would require federal government approval — would likely draw heavy opposition, drivers in the western part of the state have argued they’re already paying an unfair burden through Mass Pike tolls for transportation revenue.