Petition to Stop the I-93 Toll
March 15, 2010We need to tell Gov Lynch that enough is enough.
Our state government has imposed over 50 new taxes and fees in the last two state budget cycles. The latest idea for a new tax is a proposed toll booth on I-93 near the Massachusetts border. This additional tax would be devastating for the state of New Hampshire. The last thing our state needs is another tax in any form. Route I-93 is already congested with morning traffic headed south everyday to jobs in Massachusetts. A toll booth would further the slowdown of traffic. It would also diminish the incentive for those coming north to shop in New Hampshire and for those who do venture north, the side streets in Salem would be flooded with vehicles attempting to avoid the tolls.
This is not just a Salem problem. This is a state problem that would hurt both residents and businesses across New Hampshire.
A toll on I-93 would:
- Jeopardize the New Hampshire sales tax advantage-harming our businesses and potentially costing our state valuable jobs
- Cost daily commuters $500 per year and create a new morning hassle
- Flood local streets with toll avoiders
- Increase air pollution from idling vehicles
Our state government must learn to exercise fiscal restraint rather than continually seeking new ways to burden taxpayers and hard working residents. New Hampshire has a spending problem—not a revenue problem.
Governor Lynch needs to stop the toll booth application process now. Please go to this link and sign a petition asking Governor Lynch to end this process.
Representative Pamela Tucker
TimothyHorrigan
Mar 15, 2010
I-95 runs through Rep. Tucker’s district. The section of I-95 between Exit 1 & 3 is tolled already, and has been for a half-century— and people actually DO go through the tolls instead of bypassing the stretch between Seabrook & Greenland. The toll is not especially high: the standard rate is $2.00 for a passenger car on I-95 proper, 75 cents on the ramp exit to/from NH-101. Even with the Hampton tolls in place just down I-95, a developer recently built a shopping plaza in Greenland just off Exit 3 with Lowe’s and Target big-box stores.
Amazingly, quite a few shoppers go up I-95 and pay tolls on BOTH the NH and Maine turnpikes, AND then ALSO go ahead and pay Maine sales tax in Freeport or other maine communities. (The Kittery outlet malls, which inexplicably are on the Maine side of the Piscataqua River rather than in Tax Free New Hampshire, are downstream of the Kittery toll booths. But you have to pay a toll to drive to Freeport.)
Unless the I-93 tolls are extraordinarily high, it is hard to imagine what difference they will make. The I-95 tolls have been raised many times over the years without significantly reducing traffic. There are successful new toll roads in many other states; for example, the new South Bay Expressway in San Diego charges $4.50 for a trip about the same length as Seabrook to Greenland.
TimothyHorrigan
Mar 15, 2010
oops: the Kittery outlet malls are UPstream from the York toll plaza. In this case, “up” on the map is “downstream.”
The southernmost toll plaza on the Maine Turnpike was in Kittery for many years but it was moved north to York a few years back. My bad.