Legislator proposes toll-free Labor Day Bill would lift fare for turnpike travelers

AUGUSTA – A legislator’s plan to thank out-of-state tourists by giving them a free ride home on the Maine Turnpike at the end of the Labor Day weekend has raised the hackles of the agency that manages the toll road.

Rep. Arthur F. Mayo III, R-Bath, said his bill to allow visitors to leave the state without paying a toll is modeled on a practice adopted in other states, including Massachusetts.

Mayo said the toll-free ride provides a token tip of the hat to the people who support the state’s lucrative tourist industry and would also show what effect a toll holiday might have on traffic congestion during one of the busiest travel days of the year.

“We take in upwards of $4 billion a year from tourists,” Mayo said. “It’s a way for Maine to say thank you.”

The Maine Turnpike Authority opposes the idea, calling it unfair to Maine motorists who pay the tolls day in and day out, to tourists who visit on other weekends and turnpike bondholders who expect the agency to collect tolls at all times in order to meet interest obligations.

Turnpike officials deny that tollbooths are a significant cause of massive delays in southbound traffic after busy weekends. They maintain that congestion comes from the limited traffic capacity of the roadway and that the tollbooths can handle more cars than the highway.

Because travelers have seen other states lift their tolls on busy weekends, Mayo said the practice poses a competitive issue for Maine’s tourism industry.

But Dan Paradee, a spokesman for the turnpike authority, said the turnpike already offers thank-you gifts to tourists, including computer mouse pads with Maine tourism contact numbers.

Paradee said he is most concerned by the potential legal consequences of breaking the authority’s pledge to investors to maintain a steady flow of cash from toll collections.

“We are a toll road, and we are required by our bondholders and our bond indentures to collect tolls unless there’s an emergency of some kind,” he said.

Paradee also noted that the agency is in the midst of a $135 million widening project, which was undertaken in large part to accommodate out-of-state tourist traffic.

“It costs a lot of money, and we also feel the people who travel the turnpike at its busiest times should pay their fair share,” he said.

Mayo finds the agency’s arguments unconvincing.

“Other states are doing it, and it isn’t killing them,” he said. “They say it would impact their bond rating, but I don’t believe it.”