NH/Mass. I-93 Border Toll will be Considered to Fund Transit

The debate over placing a toll near the New Hampshire border on I-93 may return in 2012 as an option to shore up transit funding shortfalls in Massachusetts, according to one state representative.

“Open road tolling is a possibility, on the New Hampshire border, that Governor Patrick and the (MBTA) caucus is looking at,”  Rep. Sean Garballey, D-Medford/Arlington, said Wednesday.

Garballey, the chairman of the legislature’s MBTA caucus, was on hand at Medford City Hall with two other state representatives and a state senator Tuesday for

“We’re really looking at any solution possible,” Garballey said. “Everything is on the table. It has to be.”

Adding a toll near the border has been debated in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire for years. Both considered tolls near the border in 2009, but a coalition of 70 legislators in Massachusetts and New Hampshire joined together to oppose a toll on I-93 in 2010.

Any solution to the MBTA’s funding woes will have to be amenable to the entire Commonwealth and benefit its other transportation funding needs, not just the T, Garballey said.

Though Governor Deval Patrick previously supported an increase to the gas tax, he said in January he no longer considered that a viable long-term revenue source.

State Rep. Paul Donato, D-Medford/Malden, said the legislature was looking to come up with a short-term fix first, then address the long-term.

“We are attempting to find a solution,” Donato said. “Unfortunately we are going to find a short-term solution - a band-aid.”

The legislature’s MBTA caucus planned to meeting with state transportation officials Thursday to discuss the history of the MBTA’s funding and its current financial state, Garballey said.