The tolls would have made it more costly for out-of-state drivers than in-state ones to use our roads, and it would have meant that each and every driver would at least think about the cost before heading out on the interstate. It also would have caused people to seriously think about eco- and urban-friendly public transit as an alternative. The money from tolls could have been used to make public transit cheaper, more reliable and more frequent. But passenger car tolls died in the legislature, as did truck-only tolls. Instead of billions in revenue, the government is now planning on piling yet another fee on the trucking industry in order to raise a paltry $90 million. The thing is, the federal stimulus isn’t agreed on yet. There’s a lot in the governor’s budget that assumes we’ll be getting plenty of money from the feds, and there’s very good reason to think that’s true, but it’s never a good idea to count chickens before they hatch. A local legislator assured me in early 2020 that funding for transportation projects, fueled by truck-only tolls, was only weeks away. But that never materialized. Everything that was waiting on that money is still waiting.
OP-ED | Lamont Transportation Plan Dwindles from Revolutionary to an Afterthought