The Portland Press Herald’s comparison of the Hampton, N.H., toll plaza with the York toll plaza is inaccurate and misleading. (“New Hampshire debuts a toll system that works,” June 16).

First, the Maine Turnpike Authority proposes building a new plaza two miles farther north than the existing one. The $15 million Hampton “Open Road Tolling” project in New Hampshire was added within the plaza’s original footprint and retained most of the cash lanes. The MTA’s proposal would cause environmental damage and take homeowners’ private land. This did not happen in Hampton.

We here in York are delighted with Hampton’s ORT project. Hampton handles 40 percent more traffic than York, and before the construction began, Hampton had 16 toll lanes as opposed to 17 lanes in York. The ORT addition encourages people to use E-ZPass and eases the traffic jams in Hampton. Our group, Think Again, would be delighted to have ORT lanes within the existing York footprint.

Even better, the town of York and Think Again propose installing All Electronic Tolling at a cost of $7.5 million. It would cost half as much as Hampton and would save the MTA over $200 million over the next 20 years. How can The Portland Press Herald call this a “do-nothing” approach?

The Portland Press Herald also fails to point out that ORT requires the same technology as AET to apprehend violators. During the first weekend of ORT operation (Memorial Day Weekend), the Hampton Plaza handled 320,000 vehicles and had one accident. comparison, the York Plaza handles 2,000,000 vehicles per accident. Did The Portland Press Herald ask about safety? Why should we spend $45 million for a short-term, temporary “modernization” when Maine has the time to do the job right?

The Portland Press Herald is promoting obsolete technology that costs more money, is more expensive to operate, is less safe and does not address the real traffic congestion in southern Maine, which is the Piscatqua River Bridge into New Hampshire.

 


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