As of nine o’clock Friday night, motorists no longer had to pay tolls at exit 12 in Merrimack.
The change was included in the state’s new gas tax law, in order to relieve Merrimack residents who had to pay tolls at all three exits in town.
Bill Boynton with the state’s transportation department says after Friday, the exit 12 toll plaza’s three full time employees will begin working at adjacent plazas. Next month, he says, the state will ask companies to bid for the job of removing the toll plaza, at a cost of about $600,000.
"And that will involve the demolition of the canopy and the concrete islands, the removal of booths for storage and use on the turnpike system."
As well as securing the tunnels to the plaza building, he said.
Boynton says revenue from the exit 12 toll had been around $600,000 a year, about one half of one percent of the DOT’s 2013 budget.
