If a new plan goes through, Merrimack residents may get a break on highway tolls.
Town residents have long complained that they pay more in tolls than anyone else in the state.
And according to a Department of Transportation study, Merrimack drivers pay as much as 42 cents a mile on the Everett Turnpike.
That’s a lot more than the average three cents a mile.
NHPR Correspondent Sheryl Rich-Kern reports on the new plan laid out before the town council.
Merrimack is essentially landlocked.
Drivers can’t get from one exit to the next on the Everett Turnpike without having to pay a toll
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The Common Man Restaurant, where resident Julie Grant waits tables, sits right off exit 11,
GrantCostly: If I don’t want to pay the toll, I have to through Nashua or go all the way down through Bedford to Manchester to get on the highway. It’s not fair that we have to pay a toll but the surrounding towns don’t.
McKray1: There have been 20 years of futility. Nobody has ever gotten one single thing done to help the town of Merrimack.
That’s Dave McKray.
He chairs the town council and says the cutting the Merrimack tolls is simply a matter of fairness.
McKrayHinsdale: If the state gets a little bit less, and Merrimack gets some more equity, I’m fine with that. You’re just going to get the money somewhere else. For me to worry about the guy in Hinsdale -- I’m really not worried.
McKray is counting on Executive Councilor Debora Pignatelli to put up the biggest fight yet in the town’s long-running feud with the Department of Transportation.
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Pignatelli sits at the Dunkin Donuts in Merrimack, off exit 11.
The District Five Executive Councilor has proposed several plans, but none of them have won over the rest of the Council.
PignatelliPlan: But my new plan is to provide Merrimack with some tollbooth equity in the way of two free passes a day for every Merrimack resident who has a transponder.
Pignatelli admits the turnpike fund is in sad shape, and neither lawmakers nor the other Executive Councilors will want to risk any loss in revenue.
PigRevNeutral: My plan is to try to make this revenue neutral, so the state would get the money it would cost to provide this equity for the folks in Merrimack.
But Pignatelli wouldn’t say how her plan is revenue neutral.
Bob L’Heureux has been a Merrimack state representative for nine terms.
He says he’s filed dozens of bills to alleviate Merrimack toll fees.
But none of them have gone anywhere.
L’Heureux applauds the Pignatelli’s efforts, but doesn’t hold out much hope.
L’Heureux: The thing is, I don’t think you can single out one community for a discount. I think that’s impossible.
And that’s pretty much the party line at the Department of Transportation.
Spokesperson Bill Boynton:
Boynton: Technically, it is possible to adjust the EZ pass system based upon zip codes. But you do run the risk of opening up a Pandora’s box where other communities would want the same benefits. And we already have a turnpike system that is not in a position to do any kind of major capital improvements because of the cash-strapped nature of our system.
State Representative L’Heureux says there is one solution.
L’Heureux: In my opinion, the only way this will ever be resolved, is somebody is going to have to file a class action suit to bring this to a head.
Pignatelli plans to present the details on her toll relief plan at a public hearing in Merrimack this Thursday evening.
If residents express support, she’ll still have to convince the Commissioner of Transportation, the Governor, and the Executive Council.
For NHPR News in Nashua, this is Sheryl Rich-Kern.
