In the interest of trying to find revenue for highway projects, two State Senators, David Watters, D-Dover and Mark McConkey, R-Freedom, reached out to Gov. Kelly Ayotte with the suggestion of raising the price of tolls. They noted that the increase would mostly affect out-of-state drivers, and now that the United States has become “persona non grata” with Canada, well, there won’t be any Canadian tourists.
But, I digress . . .
There are two big highway construction projects under way, on Interstate 293 in Manchester, new exits 6 and 7 along with the expansion of Interstate 93 through Bow and Concord. Two projects which may not see completion as more revenue is needed. All toll revenue from the New Hampshire turnpikes gets reinvested into the maintenance and upkeep of said turnpikes and according to Sen. Watters these current projects are already part of a years-long highway plan.
What to do?
The two Senators reached out to the governor with a request to raise the tolls and a reminder that such a raise has not taken place since 2009, almost 16 years now. In the meantime, like everything else, the costs of highway construction has risen. The governor’s office responded (to WMUR) with a resounding, "NO. The governor does not support increasing tolls."
We’ll see how the Executive Council feels, but with a 4-1 Republican majority. . .
What the governor does support, however, is a full-blown embrace of the “education freedom accounts” otherwise known as the hated school vouchers, as she and the majority party continue to defy Articles 6 and 83 of the NH Constitution, taking more and more public money to support private, religious schools.
How much more can the average property taxpayer take while the majority party cuts and dismantles organizations and programs specifically meant to help those who are children, disadvantaged, elderly and vulnerable, in their quest to destroy the public school system?
In the meantime, what about those construction projects?