Fed money saves NH drivers from the state gov

[Fluff and Stuff]

Drivers Find Way Around Paying Toll
State Officials Say It Was Expected
POSTED: 11:06 pm EST November 19, 2011
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/29815388/detail.html

MERRIMACK, N.H. -- Some drivers said they found a way around paying the toll on the Everett Turnpike after the new airport access road opened a week ago.

State officials said the state does not consider it toll evasion because they knew all about it before the access road was built.

Merrimack resident Jordan Guagliumi said he has it all mapped out and that he's driven the detour in both directions.

"We figured if you're on the Everett Turnpike, you can take the access road as if you're going to the airport, (but) get off on the Daniel Webster Highway and get back on the access road and completely bypass the Bedford tolls," Guagliumi said.

"In my view, it takes about an extra two minutes, and if you travel through the tolls twice a day, you'll save about $1.40 a day. Actually, if you don't have EZ Pass, it would be $2 a day," Guagliumi said.

State officials said tolls are needed to maintain the highway system, but driving around toll booths is no secret to them.

New Hampshire Department of Transportation spokesman Bill Boynton said the state knew it would lose close to $5 million a year just from the estimated 26,000 cars a day using the access road, which cannot have a toll because federal funds were used to build it.

[Tom Sawyer]

Doesn't mean the state can't and won't write an ordinance against it.

In Virginia people, myself included, were using the airport access... cops were put to monitoring the airport and ticketing people that just drove through.

[KBCraig]

Given how badly the toll plazas are designed, it's probably faster and safer to go around them.

[littlehawk]

And tolls will soon become TSA checkpoints.