Boston extension toll

To compare other toll road premiums for non-E-ZPass customers nationwide, Massachusetts has an 87 percent premium on the Massachusetts turnpike and percent on the Boston Extension. The Miami-Dade Expressway has a percent premium. The Pennsylvania Turnpike charges a 36 percent premium.

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Should I have a Boston number or a toll free number? By January , Volpe yielded to Callahan, admitting that it "was a choice between the Prudential and the freeway.

The Newton-Boston route was to be constructed as a toll road. Nevertheless, Callahan faced the problem of financing the Boston Extension, a problem that was aggravated by two failed attempts at selling Massachusetts Turnpike Authority bonds. Volpe, his patience tested by the failed sale, joined the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce in resuming his calls for a freeway in the following joint statement: Highway planning and construction to the west of Boston are too important to be left to the uncertain vicissitudes of the bond market for another interminable period.

Seven valuable years have already been lost, and we strongly urge the State Department of Public Works and all those involved to proceed ahead in the fastest possible manner. In the fall of , Volpe ordered MassDPW to revive engineering studies on the free "Western Expressway" proposal, in defiance of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority's legislative authorization to construct a toll road from Route to downtown Boston, and asked Attorney General McCormack his opinion whether the legislative authorization constituted an exclusive privilege.

However, McCormack held that the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority - and no one else - had the authority to construct and maintain the Newton-Boston route. On March 5, , less than two months after the bond sale, the authority broke ground on the Boston Extension.

Callahan did not live to see his turnpike completed. The entire mile length of the Massachusetts Turnpike opened to traffic on February 18, with the completion of the Prudential Tunnel and the interchange with the Central Artery I Six lanes three in each direction were provided from the Route barrier toll plaza east to Newton Center EXIT 17 , and eight lanes four in each direction were provided from Newton Center east to the Central Artery.

Along the Boston Extension, the lack of adequate shoulders and acceleration-deceleration lanes were characteristic of early-Interstate era construction through urban areas.

Limited commuter rail service continued along this corridor after the turnpike opened, and service has since been expanded as part of the MBTA Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Framingham-Worcester commuter line. The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority upgraded facilities and constructed new buildings at the nine service plazas.

McDonald's Corporation, which won the contract for the Mass Pike concessions from Host Marriott in , added new services to the plazas. Along various sections of the mainline turnpike, the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority is currently rehabilitating bridges; adding a new concrete "Jersey" median barrier; and improving lighting, signing and other safety features.

Photo by Mike Tantillo. Photo by Douglas Kerr, gribblenation. The completion of the Massachusetts Turnpike and other roads, as well as growth in downtown Boston and at Logan Airport, had taxed the capacity of the existing facilities by At that time, Governor Sargent recommended the construction of a special-use tunnel for transit and emergency vehicles only from South Boston to Logan Airport, and sought 90 percent Federal funding for the tunnel. John A. Volpe, then Transportation Secretary under President Nixon, granted the I designation for the proposed extension.

From the mid's through the early 's, the MassDPW evaluated five "Third Harbor Tunnel" alternative alignments in conjunction with an underground replacement of the Central Artery I Fred Salvucci, who served as transportation secretary under Governor Michael Dukakis, quietly worked to seek support from a broad coalition to construct a combined Central Artery replacement and "Third Harbor Tunnel. He also saw the potential benefits of the tunnel and its approaches for redeveloping South Boston.

Despite friction from Governor Dukakis, Salvucci sold the governor on the ambitious plan in On April 2, , after four years of rancorous debate and over the veto of President Ronald Reagan , Congress approved the "Big Dig" as part of an omnibus transportation bill.

The turnpike was to cross under Fort Point Channel, and re-emerge in South Boston before making the 8,foot-long journey under Boston Harbor through the four-lane Ted Williams Tunnel.

To expedite the work, construction crews dug a trench and placed 12 pre-cast tunnel sections into the trench. Under separate contracts, crews constructed the approaches to South Boston and East Boston. The two sides were connected in the summer of On December 15, , the Ted Williams Tunnel opened to commercial and transit vehicles. At the onset, passenger cars were limited to using the tunnel during off-peak periods. Including through travel lanes and ramps, the proposed 1,foot-long tunnel was to have 11 lanes.

Before digging began, workers had to find a way to stabilize the soft soil, which was actually fill dumped into Boston Harbor during the nineteenth century. Large machines churned the mixture churned the soil, concrete and cold saltwater through foot-tall booms. The original design for the Fort Point Channel link called for the conventional floating and installation of six foot-high, steel-and-concrete immersed tunnel tubes ITT's , as had been done with the Ted Williams Tunnel several years earlier.

However, the low clearance of the existing bridges across Fort Point Channel, as well as the proximity of nearby rail and subway lines, precluded such an installation. To circumvent these problems, crews constructed the six twin-tube ITT sections on site.

Doing so required the construction of cofferdams and nearly one-half mile of slurry walls. Four of the six ITT sections were placed under the Fort Point Channel, requiring the temporary relocation of water flow through the channel. The tubes were then floated to the bottom of the channel with the falling tide.

Engineers dug concrete shafts each six feet in diameter more than feet into the bedrock to provide additional support for the six ITT sections. All six ITT sections were set into place by late Photos by Jim K.