Here’s what some of your neighbors are thinking about the prospect of tolls.
All you have to do is send an email to share61@fox61.com, or tweet at us @fox61news with this format:
Dear Lawmakers, do something about ____________.
Sincerely, [your name] from [your town]
Dear Lawmakers,
Once the tolls are installed, what becomes of the lock box fee that was being talked about by increasing the tax on gasoline, will the lock box fee on fuel go away?
Larry
If tolls are implemented, it will be the final straw for me and my family. We WILL relocate to North Carolina. Even have a home picked out already. Enough of the overtaxation! Cut spending!
George and Debra, Ashford
Dear Lawmakers, do something about road maintenance, tolls, and the gas tax.
I support tolls on our highways. Tolls are not taxes, they are user fees. The proposed toll ways are the most congested and heavily used highways in the state. Tolls are the fairer way to pay for the upkeep and upgrades to these roads. I also read that the Federal Highway Commission supports congestion tolls and those kind of tolls would not reduce our federal highway allotment.
I used to work in Marlborough, MA from 1996-2008 and used the I-90 toll road almost every day of the work week. It was the better and safer road to travel back then. I-290 was under a lot of construction through Worcester and Rte 20 was like driving on the Moon, lots of pot holes and cracks.
Currently, I work in RI, but still take I-90 to Tufts University Small Animal Hospital where my special needs cat gets treatment. I get on the toll road at Auburn and exit at Millbury, exit 11. That is the 2nd exit. I do NOT get charged a toll for that distance, which is about 6 miles. If I got off the next exit in Framingham, I would get charged a toll. Suggestion: maybe CT can do something similar to ease the burden on local traffic. FYI, MA DOT EZ Pass Toll Calculator https://www.ezdrivema.com/TollCalculator
The last 2 Christmas vacations, I drove down to St. Petersburg, FL to visit my brother for the holidays. It took me longer to get out of CT than it did to go the entire length of NJ. The New Haven to NY border segment was like a parking lot. Last year it took me 5 hours to get out of CT using I-95 to I-287. I unfortunately left home around noontime Friday (4 days before) Christmas, so I must have been hitting early Christmas vacation traffic. I also have an EZ Pass transponder. NY, NJ, DE, MD, VA all have tolls, but what I liked was the EZ Pass expressways these states have. It was great for thru-traffic, like me, to skip the local traffic toll booths. NJ still has toll booths. The expressways helped me make up the time I lost in CT and I did not have to break the speed limit. Those expressways are only for passenger vehicles. No tractor trailers allowed, which makes it less stressful and safer for long distance vacationing drivers, like me. Last year it cost me in tolls $24.94 to get down to FL and $22.25 to get home for a total of $47.19.
Assuming the toll plan is approved, I currently have an EZ Pass Transponder from Massachusetts. Will I still get discounts with my MA EZ Pass transponder or will I need to get a CT one? Or will you grandfather us CT residents with out-of-state EZ Pass transponders into the system?
Also, once tolls are implemented, I think the gas tax should be lowered to be competitive with MA and RI.
Sincerely,
Teresa Killingly, CT
I feel the Connecticut tolls are needed. I visit families in both New York and Massachusetts and I have a toll monitor in my car. I see the volume of cars going through 95, 84 and 5/15 and the traffic that includes these out of state cars is remarkable. What people don’t understand is we need to revenue. people complain about our highways and roads but don’t understand the cost to fix them. I don’t mind paying for tolls for the benefit of more revenue. We can’t continue living in old times and the future is not being the same old conservative ways. that has set us back in this state which why were only state in union that didn’t have a budget early last year. Bring the tolls. it is an excellent ideal. people will see the results in several years.
Carlos
No tolls for CT residents! Only toll cars in or out of the state like other states do. They increased our gas tax when they took tolls away years ago. Are they going to eliminate that then? The middle class is already overburdened with taxes. Stop spending!!!
JoAnn from Stonington
