Group rallies against I-93 toll

From the Eagle Tribune March 03, 2010
Group rallies against I-93 toll
By Terry Date

SALEM, N.H. — The buck stops with Gov. John Lynch when it comes to proposing a toll for Interstate 93. That’s what several speakers said among the 45 people who met last night at Woodbury Middle School to rally opposition to a border toll. Elected officials, residents and others brainstormed strategies to scuttle the state transportation commissioner’s plan to apply next month for federal approval to charge a $2 toll on the southbound side of I-93 in Salem.

Two of those people were Sen. Mike Downing, R-Salem, and John Stephen, a former New Hampshire Health and Human Services commissioner. “It all starts with the governor,” Downing said. Stephen, who announced last night he will file today to run for governor, said all Lynch needs to do is let the transportation commissioner know he doesn’t support the toll application and that would be the end. “It’s wrong,” Stephen said of the toll.

The governor’s spokesman, Colin Manning, said in an interview after last night’s meeting, “This is not something that the governor has supported and he has a number of questions and concerns.” Manning said the DOT was asked by regional planning commissions to investigate funding for the I-93 widening. The responsible thing to do is to explore all funding options, he said. “The governor said in his State of the State address it’s one thing to talk about the I-93 (widening) project but to ignore how we are going to fund it is not realistic,” he said.

The toll is being considered as a means of paying for a $260 million shortfall in the $780 million project to widen I-93, pay for the interstate’s yearly operating costs, and the projected bonding for construction, DOT Commissioner George Campbell has said.

Meanwhile, Massachusetts state Rep. Linda Dean Campbell, D-Methuen, said traffic being diverted to local roads would cause more congestion in Methuen than any other town along the corridor.

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