I’m hoping this could be a valid class-action lawsuit. So lawyers, please tell me if this has merit. Fact, the MTA is a creation of the MA legislature. It was supposed to end and dissolve upon the payoff of the original construction bonds, in 1986. Had that happened, the toll booths would come down, the workers let go, and the turnpike would become a state highway. well, it diodn’t happen: the board voted to issue new bonds, so the authority continues on its merry way. here’s where i come in. Those toll booths pose a significant danger to the public:
-they expose people parked at the booths to danger of being rammed by a sleepy truck driver
-the massive air polluition caused by millions of idling engines 9of cars waiting at toll booths0 causes air pollution, and wastes gasoline
So, would a class-action lawsuit against the MTA have a chance? Would the Federal EPA be willing to be a lawsuit againsta a state agency?
Oh yeah, the “Big Dig”-the MTA is committed to paying of the “Big Dig” bonds-but, i say, what the hell! Close down the MTA and pay the bonds off via a gasoline tax! 
But where would the state hacks ner-d-well brother-in-laws otherwise gain employment at above dreded-private-sector wages?
Of course, this would lesen the service sector employee shortage.
Only question would be paper or plastic?
If the EPA were to say that toll booths have to come down for the reasons you stated, wouldn’t that ruling apply to toll booths everywhere? As I recall, parts of New Jersey seem to have toll booths evey few miles along one stretch of highway.
The Pike is a very nice road to drive on. They keep it well paved, plow in the winter, etc. I’m happy to pay the tolls to keep the road in good condition.
I don’t know if you can sue, but I sure as hell hope so.
I’m on record in several threads as being rabidly anti-tollbooth. I think they’re among the dumbest ideas civilization has ever produced. They are the most inelegant of solutions: To have a road people can drive fast on, we must make the road… stop.
I won’t rehash everything from other threads, but will just say I would rather pay taxes to fund the roads. Even the ones I don’t personally drive on, because we all benefit from roads.
You can sue anyone you want to sue. Go down to the court building and file the papers. The nice guvmint employees will even help you fill them out.
Whether you will win the lawsuit is another question.
I will be right behind you. That whole thing makes me furious as well. It is a perfect example of a tax just because they can. They got a foothold on the Mass Pike and just kept it. The tolls aren’t needed to keep up the Mass Pike. It generates a huge surplus. Otherwise, wouldn’t every nice road in the country need a system that generates hundreds or more likely thousands of dollars a minute just to keep it up? The westerhbn suburbs tend to be fairly affluent and less vocal than those to the North and West of Boston so they just soak us. At one point, my wife and I were paying $800 in tolls a month just to get to work. Now it is down to a more reasonable $400 or so. That is insane and very unfair. It isn’t like people in the Western suburbs have lots of other options to get closer to Boston.
Just get a Fastlane transponder and quit bitchin’. 
Just a little nitpick: Doesn’t MTA stand for Massachusetts Transit Authority?
It was the topic of a song long before the turnpike existed, IIRC.
Metropolitan Transit Authority
And did he ever return?
No, he never returned,
And his fate is still unlearned.
(Poor old Charlie)
I stand corrected. [sub]Nice voice, you should see if the New Christy Minstrials are ready for a revival. 
[/sub]
I recommend you study the situation in Connecticut, which eliminated the tolls about twenty years ago, for much the same reasons you’re suggesting. The original bonds were paid off and there was a nasty accident in 1983, when a runaway truck struck a line of cars at the toll booths and killed seven.
My guess is that you’re not going to be able to get rid of the tolls via a lawsuit since I’m sure the legislature made their continuation legal.
As I say, the big problem I have is the massive amount of air pollution caused by idling engines at those stupid toll booths. Wht’s the point of cleaner engines, smog checks, evaporative emissions controls, if all this work is negated by 200,000 cars isdling for hours a day? Thta’s why i’d like to involve the EPA-we could have an immediate improvement in air quality, just by getting rid of toll booths. Plus all of that wasted gasoline-only a Massachusetts politician is stupid/greedy enough to keep this farce going. OK, keep the MTA, just tear down the toll booths. increase the gasoline tax by $0.02/gallon-that will more than make up for it. If a factory were pumping out the same volume of pollution, the EPA would shut them down-why doesn’t the same logic apply to the MTA?
Are there special emmissions te4sting for cars in the state? I would assume that it is so in Boston, but I don’t know for sure. This would have relevance on the smog aspect.
We eliminated tools on a lot of roads down here in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach in the mid-80s, and now there is a lot of support to put them back on. The revenue will be earmarked for improvements to existing roads and to construct a third bridge-tunnel crossing between Norfolk and Newport News/Hampton.
GOOD LORD! You can buy for car for $400/mo. I’m always flabbergasted at the toll rates here on the east coast, $4.50 just to cross a bridge? It’s ridiculous!
The toll roads in a Chicago are a fraction of the rates out here and half that if you have an I-Pass. They might not generate as much revenue, but sheesh, $400 a month? That’s a pretty big burden to put on someones budget.
Most of the country seems to agree with you. When I went to live in the midwest some years ago there was a bridge in town that went over the river to the neighboring state. When I asked people how much it cost to go over the bridge I was stared at as if I’d grown another head.
When I explained that where I come from we put tolls on bridges, they recoiled in horror. “Tolls on bridges? Why would we bottleneck something that is already a bottleneck?”
At the time of the Kingston Trio’s hit recording of “The MTA Song” (1959), the Boston area subway system was the Metropolitan Transit Authority. Later, after reorganization and increased federal and state funding to expand to most of eastern Mass., it was renamed the Massachusetts Bay Transportatio Authority, with the nickname MBTA. and logo a black T in a circle. I always felt that part of the reason for the name change was because New York wanted the “MTA” nickname, which it did, in fact, adopt later.
The Mass. Turnpike Authority does use the MTA nick, as does the Maryland Transit Administration, and perhaps several other “M” agencies.
By the way,“The MTA Song” was written in 1948 by Jacqueline Steiner and Bess Lomax Hawes, according to Wikipedia, and it was about a man named Charlie who was lost and trapped on the Boston MTA.
If you want to see a toll road done right, try the Ohio Turnpike. The toll depends on how far you travel, and for $9 you can cross the entire state. Plus, they have very nice rest stops with gas stations, restaurants, convenience stores, and all sorts of good stuff.
The Mass Pike is much like this. It only gets expensive out towards Boston. From Pittsfield (exit 1) to Auburn (exit 9), it is a truly beautiful drive. There are plenty of rest areas, most of them recently remodeled. All have multiple restaurants, a convenience store and many of them have a few arcade type games. Most, if not all have areas for walking dogs.
If you don’t like paying tolls, you could always move out my way. Exits 1-6 are free.