Why There Are Still Tolls on the Massachusetts Turnpike

When you think of the Massachusetts Turnpike, perhaps you recall the long car rides to Six Flags New England or the time you visited Tanglewood for a Boston Pops concert. Maybe it was a hike up Mount Tom in the Berkshires or a walk across the David Ortiz Bridge that carries Red Sox fans over the Mass Pike near Boston's Fenway Park.

James Taylor immortalized the Massachusetts Turnpike in the 1970 classic "Sweet Baby James." Taylor sang: "Now, the first of December was covered with snow. So was the turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston. Though the Berkshires seemed dreamlike on account of that frostin'. With 10 miles behind me and ten thousand more to go."

But for Massachusetts motorists, there is little about the turnpike to be sentimental about. 

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The highway spans 138 miles along an east-west axis from the New York state line to Boston. It is the longest Interstate Highway in Massachusetts.

The turnpike constitutes the Massachusetts portion of Interstate 90 (I-90,) the longest Interstate Highway in the country, connecting Boston and Seattle, Washington. 

The Mass Pike was built in 1952 using bonds. The state repaid the loans over 30 years by charging tolls. The plan was to remove the tolls in the 1980s.

It didn't happen, and it doesn't seem likely it will any time soon.

Governors Bill Weld, Mitt Romney and Deval Patrick pledged to remove the turnpike tolls, but they didn't. The MBT recommended removing some tolls in Western Massachusetts, but the Legislature's Joint Transportation Committee balked.

In 2017, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation determined that the tolls must continue to fund turnpike repairs and maintenance, which total more than $135 million annually.

Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt recently indicated that additional tolls on other highways may be in the offing. So I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the Mass Pike to go toll-free any time soon.