AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Turnpike Authority is proposing $26 million in toll increases later this year that are likely to hit hardest drivers using toll plazas in York, New Gloucester and West Gardiner.
The toll hike scenario recommended by turnpike authority staff would raise tolls for passenger vehicles by $1 at the York toll plaza, 75 cents at tolls in New Gloucester and West Gardiner, and 50 cents at tolls in Gray and Wells. The scenario would largely spare side tolls located on highway entrance and exit ramps.
The Maine Turnpike Authority says it needs to raise about $26.5 million annually in additional revenue to, over the next five years, fund $113 million in bridge repairs on northern sections of the 109-mile highway, pay for $82 million in paving and other road improvements, and pay off debt from a highway widening project completed in 2004.
“We’ve anticipated this for years,” said Peter Mills, the turnpike authority’s executive director. “We’ve done what we can to mitigate it in the sense that we refinanced a lot of these bonds at much lower interest rates.”
If approved by the turnpike authority board, the toll increases would take effect Nov. 1. The increases for passenger cars would mean a $3 charge at the York toll plaza, $2.50 at New Gloucester, $2 at West Gardiner and $1.50 at both the Wells and Gray tolls.
For a five-axle commercial truck, the toll hike proposal would mean paying 4.25 times the amount a passenger vehicle pays, up from the current rate of four times the passenger vehicle rate. At the York toll plaza, that would mean a $12.75 charge.
Companies enrolled in the turnpike authority’s discount program would continue to receive a 20 percent discount, Mills said.
“We’re being very careful about any rate adjustments on the commercial side,” he said, adding that the turnpike authority plans to speak with trucking industry representatives and the public about alternative proposals.
A Maine Motor Transport Association official said Friday his organization wasn’t prepared to comment on the proposed toll increase.
The Maine Turnpike Authority is planning three public hearings this month to discuss the proposed toll hikes. Those hearings will take place at Auburn City Hall on June 19, Portland City Hall on June 20 and Saco City Hall on June 21, all starting at 6:30 p.m.
The Maine Turnpike Authority, which last raised tolls in 2009, currently raises about $103 million annually in tolls and another $3 million in revenue from its service plazas, Mills said. Estimates for new revenue from raising tolls, he said, account for an expectation that some drivers will choose to avoid the tolls by using secondary roads.
No one wants to see a toll hike, but there’s probably a greater cost to not raising the funds needed to make investments in the state’s transportation infrastructure, said Vaughn Stinson, chief executive officer of the Maine Tourism Association.
“This is to maintain what we have, and that’s critically important in the tourism industry,” he said. “If the roads are beat up or pot-holed or unsafe, they’re just not going to come. And the thing is, they tell everybody about that experience.”
The proposed toll hike isn’t surprising, and it’s necessary to generate more revenue to maintain the road, said Maria Fuentes, executive director of the Maine Better Transportation Association, which represents contractors, engineers, rail companies, airports and others in the transportation sector.
“I think what’s paramount is that the turnpike be funded in a way that it continues to be maintained in a way that’s appropriate relative to what commuters and drivers have come to expect,” she said.
The turnpike authority weighed 10 toll hike options that proposed increases of varying sizes at all turnpike toll booths before settling on the proposal that raises rates at the York, New Gloucester, West Gardiner, Wells and Gray toll plazas.
The proposal to raise tolls comes nearly two months after Paul Violette, the former Maine Turnpike Authority executive director, was sentenced to 3 ½ years in prison for stealing tens of thousands of dollars from the agency to pay for upscale hotels, meals at fancy restaurants and spa treatments.
Since Violette’s departure in March 2011, Mills said the Maine Turnpike Authority has trimmed expenses through staff reductions, changes to purchasing policies and refinancing debt. The budget for 2013, according to the authority, will be 11.3 percent smaller than the 2012 budget.
The turnpike authority, for example, has reduced legal expenses, eliminated its lobbying budget and cut back on television advertising. Mills said he expects the authority’s 2014 budget to be smaller than the 2013 spending plan.
However, “the marginal gains we can make through cost-cutting aren’t enough,” Mills said. “The level of this toll increase is dictated because revenue has to be sustained at a certain level.”
The Maine Turnpike Authority says its current toll rates make it the 13th least expensive toll road to travel in the United States when measured by toll charge per mile.
Strange that the article gives a percentage but doesn’t show the actual proposed tolls. The current tolls according to http://www.maineturnpike.com/Tolls/Toll-Charts.aspx are as follows:
York: $2.00 ($2.50 after increase, maybe?)
New Gloucester: $1.75
West Gardiner: $1.25
All other tolls: $1.00 ($1.25 after increase, maybe?)
I also wonder if the I-295 entry/exit tolls in Gardiner and South Portland would be affected.
It may not be 26% across the board. It is likely “we take in $103 million, we need authority to take in $130 million”. The increase at a specific toll booth, however, might be higher or lower based upon usage patterns.
Exactly Matt. The will be a preferred option presented at the public meetings. However, all comments received by the Turnpike on a future toll increase will be reveiwed and alternatives will be considered before the Turnpike Board takes any formal action on a specific plan.
How about acting fiscally responsible? Naw…
Maines toll boothes are so out dated, thats why I fly in..
Wasn’t Mills appointed to put an end to waste and corruption at MTA? I want to see more justification for this kind of rate hike. And the tolls aren’t fair/evenly distributed. If you get on in Disgusta/Gardiner, you pay. If you get on at Sabattus and get off no further south than Auburn, you don’t pay.
Maybe they need to add a toll booth in Sabattus before they hike the rest of the rates?
That’s what’s called capital gain….
1 dollar for a crappy stretch of turnpike between augusta and gardiner. total bs if ya ask me.
They should have just extended 295 to augusta.
but then the private Maine turnpike authority would be out of millions of dollars a year.
I used to just spend the extra few minutes to bypass the Turnpike to get from point A to Point B. When tolls first started to increase, I remember bailing before the West Gardiner toll plaza and go through Gardiner/Farmingdale to work my way to Augusta. Besides used to stop at the store (forgot its name now) right by what was once a green bridge.
Haha Put a toll booth in Sabattus? Augusta toll is like 10 miles north and New Gloucester toll booth is another 15-20 miles south. It would be ludacris to put a toll booth in Sabattus.
Portland and southward, you pay a toll to get on the interstate. If MTA wants to raise funds, it’s time for them to do likewise in Sabattus, Lewiston, & Auburn.
The singer named Ludacris ought to be imprisoned. The word is “ludicrous.”
Skim off the paychecks of admin. should have plenty of money then.
Tax and spend Republicans.
Get your facts straight. This toll increase was announced when Baldy was in office. So to say its Republicans fault is 100% wrong. Blame Paul Violette who was running the MTA at that time, it is BS to blame others. Violette was the one who said they were going to increase tolls back a few years ago. They are implementing the huge toll increase that Violette and his cronies wanted for the lavish spending that Violette and Co. did. Peter Mills is doing a good job cleaning up the damage of Violette and Democrats have caused that agency.
Are you kidding me?
Republicans are proposing the rate increase.
There’s a picture of an honest to God, live, life-long Republican at the top of the story proposing the increase.
How am I supposed to buy your statement that the Republicans aren’t doing this?
Please provide a link to any story about Paul Violette proposing a toll increase “a few years ago” as you state. I can’t find one.
Rates were raised 23% three years ago to fund the widening in southern Maine. But don’t worry, I’m a republican and I think the rates should definitely be increased.
http://www.pressherald.com/news/Maine-Turnpike-Authority-proposing-toll-increase.html?pageType=mobile&id=1
Looks like we traded Democrat graft for Republican graft.
I grew up hearing that the tolls would end once the bonds were paid off. They’ve not only continued the tolls but also continued increasing them.
yeah, I remember the punch cards telling us how much it would cost to get off at the various exits… it’s a bit like disneyland only without the fun
It’s like crack for a junkie…Our turnpike tolls should have already vanished but it’s easy money and VERY addictive obviously. It should cost nothing to travel our Interstate system relatively free…I could see a bridge or two here and there but instead it’s like a stagecoach robbery. You know gentlemanly saying “Thanx” while taking your wallet. I would say free to at least NY. Show some Yankee Kindness :) if we still have some! To visit family and friends in CT I have to pay 3 bucks in Maine,2 for Hampstead and 2.5 in Worcester…One way! CRAZY each state takes a cut.(amounts off the top of my head could be off a bit, Plus or Neg.) Don’t i pay for the roads each year when I register my car? That’s what they tell me at least.
Actually, you’re only paying for the local roads when you register your car. BUT you are supposedly paying for all the others every time you fuel up as the cost of a gallon of gas/diesel includes both state and fed taxes that are “suppose” to maintain the roads.
Because it’s a private corporation that owns the turnpike.
The board is appointed by the government, but the road isn’t owned by the state nor do the profits go to anything but the owners/holders of the company known as the “maine turnpike authority”
Roll it into the DOT. Self perpetuating monster just sucking up $.
Take the bus to visit your friends. Why should every taxpayer in New England subsidize your choice to drive? You sound like a Socialist.
You sound as narrow minded as the real hank william’s.
The Turnpike is not part of the Interstate system in the same way that I-295 is, or in the same way that I-95 north of Augusta is.
It was built prior to the Interstate System. The Interstate System connected to the Turnpike, and the Interstate Route markers provide route continuity. You may recall, before 1987, the Turnpike between Falmouth and West Gardiner carried no route designation at all. It was designated I-495 in 1987 when Congress decided to allow rural Interstate highways to raise the speed limit from 55 to 65. Back then, Interstate 95 left the Turnpike at the Falmouth Spur, and then followed the highway now known as I-295, from Falmouth to West Gardiner.
No Federal Highway Trust Funds have been used to build, upgrade, or improve the Maine Turnpike. In that sense, it is not an Interstate highway, even though it carries the designation. That is true of most of the other old toll roads in the Northeast and Midwest.
And federal income taxes were only supposed to be implemented on the wealthiest of Americans for 3 years. Allowing the government to tax, or impose “fees” is always a bad idea. Give them an inch, they take a mile.
26 % increase when the last increase was in 2009 is quite an increase! What happens after the bonds are paid off?
Pay off the Bond’s and then put that money aside for when the Turnpike actually needs maintenance and actually required upgrading, not for these ‘look nice’ project’s that the State seems to always justify, claiming that business’s won’t invest in a State that looks run down. What rot ! It’s the MTA’s, and the Maine DOT’s, responsibility to maintain the road’s and keep them in good repair. The same can be said of the County DOT’s and the local town’s Public Works Section’s. That these same road crew’s seem to suddenly go blind when they come across a blown tire carcass or other road debris is the bigger waste and abuse of the public’s trust and responsibility.
Oh, and just in case anyone’s gonna cry about beating up on public employee’s, don’t look for a crying towel from me. I was for over 25 years, and was a Union member as well. Been there, done that, seen it and told it off, on more than one occasion, to every level of gov’t. It’s time that pride in one’s work, and the self-respect that’s due to each, is given is due as is the realization that it requires a certain amount of sacrifice to make that pride work.
I travel from biddeford to Newport quite alot over the year. Biddeford toll = $1.00 , Gray toll = 1.75 and one other toll I have to pay is $ 1.25. Know how many BATHROOM FACILITIES there are (without having to get off an exit somewhere) ,,,,,,,,,,,,,1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes just ONE!!!!!!! I wouldnt mind if they would open up the other 2 or 3 that they closed down. For god sake they could atleast put out a portapotty somewhere along the way. I would even supply my own T.P. !!!!!!!!!!
Not trying to be rude or anything but how long is the Biddeford to Newport trip?
Its a little over 2 hours, BUT I have to travel 1 hour to get to the Biddeford ramp and then I have to travel another hour after I get off in Newport to my final destination. So in total about 4 hour drive if I dont want to stop any where. Plus If I where an elderly person or someone that has a problem with over active bladder I definatley would want more than ONE rest stop. Thanks for the question . :)
Not to belittle your concerns about the elderly or the over active bladder people but the cost of opening more rest areas would out weigh the benefits, in my opinion. Only one rest area in a 2 hours section of highway would seem adequate for the majority of people.
OK but maybe they can hand out Depends at the tollbooths.
I agree. It’s ridiculous to have ONE rest area open. It makes the state look like a bunch of LOSERS! If you increase tolls fine, but open up the freakin’ pit stops man!
I can’t help but wonder if that last knukleheaded hack’s irresponible behaviour is behind this increase.
Thank you, You obviously have run into the same problem. Unlike VOLDENIUT2, Maybe they go in a gatorade bottle! lol
Nope too small…. I have a HUGE…. Bladder : )
Nothing wrong with that as long as someone doesn’t toss the bottle out the window in front of ya
I think the lack of rest stops have increased the amount of cars on the side of the road. Over the holiday weekend I saw about 7 cars roadside from Newport to the Civic Center off ram in Augusta. 2 of them had tow trucks approaching, the rest I wonder as I see this more often, are actually hiding in the bushes doing their bathroom business leaving their cars in the breakdown lane. I remember when I had to pay 35 cents from West Gardiner to Brunswick. Now you got to pay everywhere it seems. I thought eliminating those were to save us money…..but it looks like more money to pay money we couldn’t pay back to begin with….wish I could do that with a bank.
That 35 cents that was once a quarter, then 50 cents and now a dollar is for the stretch of road from Augusta to the Gardner tool booth.
The E-ZPass rate at the Gardiner Toll is 50 cents.
take 295…get on route 1 go to So. Portland and jump on 295. It’s practically the same distance and would only cost you a Buck!
Take 295…Take route 1 up to South Portland, jump on 295, you’d only have to pay a Buck in Gardiner! It’s the same distance.
that’s what I do
Gardiner is $1.25 and increasing to $2.00, apparently. What is it, about 7 miles of highway between there and Augusta?
The toll at West Gardiner, along with the exit tolls on the Falmouth Spur and I-295 in the Portland area, are high to provide an incentive for travelers between Portland and Augusta/points north, to stay on the Maine Turnpike.
The reason why this incentive to stay on the Turnpike is provided is to encourage thru traffic to use the Turnpike, which has quite light traffic north of Portland, rather than I-295, which has heavy traffic between Portland and Brunswick at many times during the day. That portion of I-295 is also a fairly old section of highway, with some relatively unsafe interchanges (Exits 15, 22, 24 come to mind).
Encouraging through traffic to stay on the Turnpike helps delay the need for a widening project between Portland and Brunswick.
The re-designation of the Turnpike from I-495 to I-95 between Portland and West Gardiner, done in 2004, was also done, in part, to give an additional psychological nudge to stay on the Turnpike when traveling between the Portland and Augusta regions.
You will notice that overhead signing at both West Gardiner and Scarborough list Augusta and Portland (depending on which direction you are driving) as best accessed via the Turnpike.
Of course, the Maine Turnpike does not mind the additional revenues, either.
You also have an alternate route if you do not wish to pay the $2. You can use US 201.
Absolutely! Raise the toll, but open more facilities and make them decent! Oh, and we expect to see a good public accounting of how the Widening Bonds were supposed to be paid and why there isn’t enough money retire them. Did the money go someplace else, besides junkets and “gift certificates?”
More facilities? Heck we might have to put a bond out for that……be careful of what you wish for. Raising tolls wont be enough for this over spending Gov’t
Most people that posted against the east-west toll highway funded with private dollars complained that Peter Vigue was just lining his pockets with $$$$. What do those same posters say here when it is the Turnpike authority?
It’s simple. Violette had his arm’s, not just hand’s, in the money. That the MTA’s own auditor’s, for whatever reason, didn’t say something is far more serious. Not to mention the lack of active oversight by the Maine Legislature’s won OPEGA folk’s. While no one may like New York, you do have to give them a A+ on instituting an Inspector General’s Office that is solely responsible for investigating stuff that is identical to what Violette was getting away with for so long. What’s more important, that Maine can learn fro, is that NY’s IG is directly reportable, and answerable to, their State Legislator’s, not the Governor or anyone in that Staff structure. That removes any possibility of Executive Undue Influence. Maybe Maine ought to learn from someone else besides the same folk’s who set this whole goatrope fetival in the 1st place ?
And I don’t care who get’s a case of the ‘Galloping Grannies’, BOTH PARTY’S were responsible for this mess since no one, from either side, had the gut’s to bring it to either the Legislature, where it could have been dealt with internally, or to the Attorney General’s Office, which has the statutory authority and responsibility to investigate and prosecute, which they eventually did anyway after a huge and messy exposing of Maine’s inablity to manage it’s own affair’s. Maine’s showing in this whole mess is both an embarassment but also a serious call for Executive, financial and administrative oversight and reform as far as the processing and accounting of ANY money that Maine takes in, or goes out. If the Legislature, as a whole, is so determined to ‘strike a blow for good government’, fine, here it is. Now, as the Man from Missouri says, SHOW ME. And all of Maine is waiting to see it !
There are quite a few trees!
I was on there last month it’s a construction zone from Gardner to Biddeford and they already charge twice as much as it’s worth!
I drove to Alaska from N.H. and paid less in tolls than I pay traveling the Maine turnpike from Kittery to Newport!
Sure, drive through Canada. But ask them what they pay in income taxes and value-added tax on everything they buy. Oh, and why they don’t have freeways outside of a few limited areas.
Not to mention the cost of fuel in Canada.
That’s probably true. I don’t remember any tolls on I-80 from Chicago to San Francisco 30 years ago. The last time I drove from round trip from Boston to Baltimore (2 years ago), the tolls were $76.80 and I know that the NY bridges have gone up 2 bucks since then!
The 95 corridor just loves all the traffic!
So now we get to pay for Violette’s criminal skim-offs?
It’s time to do away with the authority and fold the toll road into MDOT. Why have a separate authority with prerequisite board and administration for just 106 miles of highway? If the board had done its job the previous Director would not have ended up in jail. The efficiency of combining the authority into MDOT may well avoid the need for a toll increase.
No chance that it would avoid the need for the toll increase.
As if we need more reasons to keep tourists off our roads and out of Maine! Let’s look at ways we can get more people into Maine who will pay the current tolls rather than squeezing the dwindling number of Mainers and tourists.
The roads definitely need some attention, some of it is horrid, bumpy like a login’ road.
We need more revenue to fix the road, where are we going to get it?
We live in Vacationland! People love to come here from down there because it is so much more comfortable.
What is the price for comfort? What are people willing to pay? I say it is a lot. People will pay for comfort.
The tourists get away with a bargain at our expense and I think they should pay. Our greatest attribute is our countryside, our land, our ocean, lakes, trees, all of our nature, our comfortable air. If we are to keep it this way , which is unique in the world and it would behoove us to do so, than we have to raise some revenue to keep it this way.
I think the highway should cost $5 at a toll booth. UseEZ pass and sell a “bus pass” to local people for a $1. This would be equitable and capitalize on the influx of vacationers who have budgeted extra money for the holiday. This approach is used all over the world at vacationing spots.
People pay $12 to cross the George Washington Bridge to go to Manhattan. I think they will be willing to pay $5 to get into Maine.
Mainers are tapped out in the money, they don’t have it to give, but the tourist does have expendable money and we need of capitalize on this resource, this market.
thats what gas taxes are for…damn near 50 cents a gallon in taxes to maintain the roads.!!!!!
And don’t forget former and present people (and family members) representing our lovely state (and the rest of you) who run up and down the roads here in Maine, adding wear and tear to the Maine roads, and , right, your vehicles are registered in FLORIDA – hit those puppies up and fix that before we raise more tolls. Got to be a way to get these people if they are driving in Maine half the year (or more). I really don’t care if you have a winter bungalo in Florida – you run the roads here and you pay excise just like everyone else.
right, squeeze the people until there’s nothing left.
makes perfect sense.
that would be one of the reasons that people won’t come maine.
Republicans at work.
OH, darn, it already costs me $3.00 to travel 60 miles…
OMG! Are You Kidding Me?
What did the price of gift cards go up or something??????? Oh they need to raise the cost to pay off the BONDS that are coming due—didn’t we just have a big discussion on the wonders of the low interest bonds.
good one about the gift cards! hahaha…that SOB got away with alot, I don’t care what he has to serve inside.
Republicans say they never increase your taxes. But when it comes to increasing fees and tolls, the
99% of us get robbed all the time from the 1 %ers.
We now pay for the embezzler.
When in doubt, raise the price. After all this is an inefficient public franchise. Let’s see some savings squeezed out of this mess first, then we’ll consider the revenue side.
Wasn’t the state supposed to save so much money eliminating the rest stops? Yes for the record that is not LePages fault. Was this not the same department that got grilled over spending? So we are now at a point that we have to pay back money borrowed from back in 2004 for a widening project. I am just curious, is the money really for paying back money we borrowed that the state was incapable of paying back? Or does the MTA need more money to clean up the recent spending mess?
I just do not get it, where the heck does this money go that each of us pay in that they call taxes to stop this type of nonsense.
I notice that nobody here has mentioned past and future union contracts. When inflation shows 3.5%, many unions want or have already contracted for 11% (rough example).
Wow, I may not be able to afford these Republican savings. Thank goodness we have Peter to straighten it out.
The MTA is a sacred, golden cash cow that needs to go! It is by far the worst tangle of a web Maine government has ever created. Even the Warden and Fish and Game bloats don’t compare.
Who gets the extra money one pays for gas at the rest area in K’bunk in the event you forget to fill up before getting on the T’pike? That’s one more rip off.
All the fuel taxes generated by motorists purchasing gas at Turnpike service plazas — about $21 million annually — goes to the state. 95% of Turnpike revenue is from tolls. The other 5% is from concession fees from operators of the service plazas and investment returns.
I’m talking about the higher rate charged over all which is ten or fifteen cents higher than prevailing rates. When I go south the rates on the Garden State or NJ Turnpike are about the same as one pays on the local roads. I think the Mass Pike is also comparable to off pike rates.
Another nail in Lepage’s political coffin.
What on earth does this have to do with LePage? This increase has been in the plans for years. It matters not one whit whether LePage, Libby Mitchell, Cutler, Shawn Moody, or King Kong had been elected governor.
Next thing we know, LePage will be blamed for the torrential rains we’ll experience later today. That is, if the conspiracy theorists can convince us that President Obama isn’t causing it to rain to serve *his* nefarious purposes…………good grief.
Thought Lepage was tough and would not allow new taxes. When you drop another buck at the tolls be sure to thank the governor.
Once again a great reason to CLOSE the turnpike and simply make it a interstate.
Right on -that is the smartest summation on “what to do” that I have heard in a long time!
Who would pay for its maintenance then? Maine taxpayers? If you take away the tolls, you take away the income from out-of-staters using the road.
The tourists pay the gas taxes to support the roads plus plenty more to employ people at the businesses that depend upon them.
Yes but the gas tax goes to the general fund and we all know where that money gets spent in Maine – welfare.
Isn’t it time to start revamping welfare? Handing money out on plastic has done nothing to make welfare unappealing.
This is what happens when the governor won’t support bonds for NECESSARY repairs and upkeep of roads and bridges. LePage isn’t saving money or cutting costs…he’s just passing it on to localities and agencies to make them raise fees and taxes.
Not accurate. The bond monies, that result from the referendums that you vote for/against, never go to the Maine Turnpike. They go to the state highway system.
The Maine Turnpike Authority is authorized by statute to issue bonds of a different type, which are used exclusively on the Turnpike, or perhaps in some cases, to improve access to the Turnpike.
Something the turn pike authority should consider is lowering the cost in certain areas such as the gray booth that will encourage more people to use the highway. A large number of travelers will get off the pike at exit 63 so that they can use route 100 to reach exit 75. For an extra 10 minutes, you can save a $1.75. Also, I know it is costly to build more booths, but there isn’t anything north of the booth at mile 100, even though the highway continues for around another 150 miles. So essentially, the commuters in the Bangor area get to use the highway for free while the southern Mainers pay for the service.
Don’t give MTA them any ideas to take over more of I-95. The Pike ends in Disgusta, not Bangor-north.
I-95 was built with public highway funds.
They are not really the same highway. The pike was built as a toll road in the ’40s and ’50s. Interstate 95 connected to it. Payment for I-95 was from the Highway Trust Fund, with the revenues coming from the Federal motor fuel tax. 90% of the construction cost was paid in this manner, with a 10% state match.
The Turnpike between Falmouth and West Gardiner actually carried no route designation at all between 1955 and 1987.
The I-95 designation on the Turnpike is really for route continuity as an aid to motorists.
A road is what your tires touch. A route is a designated path. The Turnpike and the Interstate north of Augusta are really two different roads that connect, built under different programs, funded differently.
Hope that helps.
Not only does Maine have an anti business climate, we also have an anti tourist climate, too. why in the world did they destroy the rest area’s along the turnpike and 95 ? The state should leased them out to private companies and got something for them and allowed someone else to make some revenue. It’s all wrong and has been for some time. Even the toll booth cashiers are no longer friendly……
Forget you!! How about taking away that pension of Paul Violette’s?! Don’t go telling me you can’t! He’s a damn criminal! End of story!! I have no clue which is worse. I don’t want to discourage tourists from coming to Maine and spending their money or anything but I would think it would be best for the toll increase now if it Absolutely HAS to happen. Why put the burden on Mainer’s alone? Let those tourists be good for something! I see someone mentions how there is like one rest stop along the turnpike. That is ridiculous. If your going to increase tolls you best open those rest stops up again. Peter, your lucky you didn’t propose this before the GOP Convention. I’d have a damn good talk with you on this issue.
=-=-=-=
Republicans generally support pay for play, i.e. if you use it, you should pay for it. People can choose not to drive toll roads in Maine. Libs support general broad based income tax increases which go to programs and social services many income tax payers will never actually use.
Your hero BO had some sterling economic news today. But I suppose that was George Bush’s fault.
…..
Raise the tolls and more people will use alternate routes. Economics 101 . . .
Raise the price of the easy pass its to low now
Peter Mills is never happier than when he has his hand in some taxpayer’s pocket.
How about raising the taxes back up to where they used to be on the richest folks before the Bush Years instead of making the working people pay this on their daily commutes?
perhaps violette would like to donate some of his retirement package to the cause…you know, the one he got even though he was caught stealing! because apparently you need a LAW saying you can’t get retirement if you steal from the company. and since we don’t have said LAW…wouldn’t common sense tell you that if you steal you will forfeit your retirement from the company you were stealing from? sickening.
At one point some rest stops were closed because they were sex stops…The turnpike was supposed to be paid for years ago…What happened there? One other thing…The bonds are comming due…Exactly what the Gov is talking about…Pay the da-m bonds we owe before you try and float new ones…Spend what you have and no more…
R they serious?I went to Portland two weekends ago & was shocked at the high tolls!And there was only one open so we sat in line for at least 10 min.’s waiting to go through.We didn’t have a card that u pay for once a yr.,man they just want to squeeze our pockets.So it cost 50 for gas(which 2 yr.’s ago it cost$ 25, &$ 6.00 tolls,Guess it will be double the next time I go again.May-b I will catch a flight,soon it will cost about the same if not cheaper..
I sure am glad I don’t use those roads much.
Ya, that it, people can hardley afford to put gas in their cars, so lets raise the tolls, that will help em.
Typical republicans…they scream about taxes right up until the time they find a way to get more of our money.
And how can they justify raising tolls to pay for the turnpike widening while they refuse to raise a dime to pay the trillions we owe for the wars they started? or to keep open a nursing home in Calais?
Mills says “This toll increase is not the result of a few gifts gone astray.” A
few! That’s like what you can count on your right hand isn’t it? MA-NE.net
says it was hundreds of gift cards amounting to $90,000. And that was
just gift cards, Violette also racked up personal expenses on their
credit cards, etc. Regardless, 26%! Merger with MDOT?
Mills says “This toll increase is not the result of a few gifts gone astray.” A
few! That’s like what you can count on your right hand isn’t it? MA-NE.net
says it was hundreds of gift cards amounting to $90,000. And that was
just gift cards, Violette also racked up personal expenses on their
credit cards, etc. Regardless, 26%! Merger with MDOT?
This is a remove the Mafia from Maine issue. They are here, entrenched like a deer tick and coming into full view of Mainers. I predict bloodshed soon.
Why are you deleting my posts?
We have censorship in progress. I have made several posts critical of the MTA and they get deleted. Also, note “they” are online.
About 15 years ago there was a comparison between the cost of Maine’s turnpike and New Hampshires. New Hamphsire had a much lower cost per mile. I’d like an up to date comparison.
They wouldn’t need a hike if they actually had someone who could MANAGE the turnpike authority rather than line their own pockets isn’t that right Mr. Violette??? Pfffffffft.
Get he joker who stole all the money from the turnpike account to pay it all back. Plus pay the hike.
So wait, I thought that I paid Federal Income tax, State Income Tax, property tax, excise tax, sales tax, gas tax, vehicle registration, and tolls to pay for all of this as well as other things?
Honestly, I would have no problem paying more if I knew that it would be used to fix and maintain the interstate system, but like everything else, the money will be thrown into the “general fund” in which case it would likely be better off being thrown in a pile and set on fire. The government is like your crackhead cousin, who you keep giving money because deep down you feel that maybe, just maybe, this time they will turn their life around.
And yet, ironically, it seems that a majority of people want to impose more taxes, more fees, and borrow more money to our crack addicted government that can’t even seem to complete the simplest of tasks without screwing them up.
You are kidding yourself if you really believe Obama will fix anything—he promised to step down if he didn’t have it right by now—
Sounds like you want government to do everything for everyone, you must be a republican.
Get rid of the tolls. The gas tax should support the road repairs. Don’t say the tourists will get away without paying—they pay the gas tax as well as keep businesses open and Mainers employed. The problem with all of the taxes is that they are out of hand. The bureaucracy needed to collect the money and dole it out seems to take the bulk of it with their need for offices, equipment for the offices, salaries, all the benefits—well, you get the idea.
If the tolls are going up, at least build ez-pass lanes like those in NH!
Are you kidding me? They just get caught with their hands in the cookie jar spending money for trips to Vegas and Spas and now they want more money??? Who is this guy running things now? Does he need new suits or what? I can tell ya this, raise the turnpike tolls and you are gonna have a lot of angry Mainers on your hands. And I completely agree with other posters…there arent even any open REST areas any more and the roads are a mess so why should we give you more money when you arent doing anything with what you are getting now.
It is time for the people to stop complaining and take a stand by uniting and putting a stop to these CROOKS steeling from us, living extravagant life styles with great retirement and health benefits. Words typed here in the comment section will not stop what is happening! We need to unite and fight, I don’t mean with violence but by getting off our butts, getting involved and taking a firm stand against them! We must fight for and create a new recall vote giving the people the power to remove someone from office immediately for any reason, in any branch of Government, Local, State and Federal and we need to do it now. Its time we showed them we are still Americans willing to stand up for our rights and restore our counties pride!
Wait a second. Violette was the crook, and now he is in jail. He is basically going to make restitution for the rest of his life. He has to pay his debt, and I suspect that he will.
Does the Board deserve blame? Of course. If you will notice, they are being replaced as well. I’ve seen some turnover while reading the papers.
It is now time to move on. Peter Mills is chairman, and to my knowledge there have never been questions about his personal integrity.
I also know some of the other senior folks at the MTA personally. To my knowledge, they are not crooks.
We have had justice served on Paul Violette, and it is now time to put that in the past (while making sure it doesn’t happen again) – but it is time to move on.
I agree with what you are saying about the Turnpike MTA addressing some of the problems but that is only the tip of the iceberg, its the horrendous salaries, pensions and healthcare packages at both State and Federal levels and the waste with spending on a stressed economy.
So you hang a sign out “Open for Business” then close the pit stops, so they look like abandon buildings, and the ones that are open look like a ten day old sandwich. The food tasting no better. There is no shortage of imagintive resturant entrupenures out there. People that can bring some flare, some excitment to them, fun themes. South bound maybe a country type store selling quality products made in Maine. Open em up Mr. Mills put em to work–jeesh. The possibilitys are endless there. Unfold your arms and get crack’in.
Until the good Govenor can break up fraudulent state employee unions, more increases can be expected.
I wonder whos pocket this money is going into
Probably Baldacci’s.
Do the math, that’s double what W. Gardiner’s toll is now (currently $1)! Mills needs a lesson in economics, he always rated a grade of “C” from the Maine Economic Research Institute” MERI when they graded legislators. I think they need to re-visit the $26.5 million figure & sharpen their pencils. Why does MTA advertise? I don’t get it’s purpose of advertising at all, put that money for upgrades and we don’t have to raise tolls at the level they are proposing.
If Baldacci or McKernan had come up with this proposal for a $26M tax hike, there’d a been calls for their heads. I like the pose in the picture. I would expect the caption to say, “Mills says I ain’t raising taxes no matter what.” Yeah, I know, it’s not a tax… BS
This is a great idea.
We need Maine to have higher highway taxes so we can increase our tourist trade here.
Our economy works best when we tax everyone as much as they can possibly handle.
As far as the tolls, we should tax those most who are most able to pay, those “from away”.
Keep Maine a welfare plantation please.
Karl Marx would agree.
Open for Business huh? …. High tolls no rest stops and then on the way out you get to wait in a god-awful line of happy campers trying to get home. Some one should grow a brain and figure out how to use technology to get those going home through the damn toll stops without fouling traffic for hours.
Great business model, at least set some empty drywall buckets along the roadside for relief to continue the camping experience as you exit vacation land.
I hate toll roads, especially the Maine Turnpike. The rates at West Gardiner keep changing, so that you never know what the toll is ahead of time. How much is being given by the Feds since it’s part of the Federal Interstate system?