Don’t expect to see tolls reintroduced on the six-mile stretch of the Maine Turnpike between Auburn and Lewiston any time soon, according to Maine Turnpike officials.

A proposed turnpike toll rate structure tentatively approved by the authority board Thursday is designed to spread costs more fairly among users, according to Dan Morin, spokesman for the authority.

And despite what some users in Southern Maine suggested last month, you can’t do that by charging a toll to cross between the Twin Cities.

“The amount of traffic did not support the staffing of toll lanes in Lewiston-Auburn back in the 1990s,” Morin said. “It was more cost effective than to remove the tolls and allow free passage.”

The Twin Cities have had free access to the turnpike’s on-ramps since a 25-cent toll was lifted in 1999.

“It would cost $2 to $3 million to build a single toll facility today,” Morin said.

And spending money is something the authority is trying to get away from, according to board member Bob Stone, an Auburn resident.

“The board made some major, major over estimations on traffic revenue,” Stone said. “They thought we’d be picking $150 million in revenue at this point. But we’re only generating about $100 million, so that’s a significant shortfall. Now, the turnpike has to be kept up and you need the funds to do that. So that’s where we are now.”

The proposed toll structure is designed to bring in an additional $26.5 million per year. The first proposal increased tolls at the New Gloucester, West Gardiner and York toll barriers. Local residents complained that it hit folks traveling between Portland and Lewiston-Auburn on the turnpike especially hard.

A new proposal increases barrier tolls at New Gloucester and West Gardiner, but not as steeply. Those tolls would have gone up 75 cents, but now would increase by 50 cents.

Tolls at the York barrier would go up $1, from $2 to $3, and E-ZPass and commercial tolls would also increase. The authority’s board is expected to ratify the new toll structure Aug. 16.

Morin said those changes came after a series of six public reviews of the proposed structure in July. That included a July 10 meeting in Auburn that brought out 150 people.

“A lot of the discussions we had in public had to do with the idea that, whatever geographic region we were in, they were critical of the toll structure in some other geographic area,” Morin said. “In Lewiston-Auburn, they commented on the no-cost travel on 295. But in Portland and Saco, they commented on the free toll access in Lewiston-Auburn.”

Residents in the Biddeford-Saco area pay a $1 toll currently to cross between the two neighboring cities on the turnpike.

“Like Lewiston-Auburn, Biddeford-Saco is a twin cities community,” he said. “But they have to pay for travel between cities. That was their comment.”

The new toll structure doesn’t address the Saco complaint. In addition to the expense of building a new Twin Cities turnpike toll booth, board member Stone said he doubted the booth would generate much revenue.

“Most people getting on in Lewiston-Auburn are going someplace else, other than going over the river,” Stone said.

Both interchanges are situated south of the Lewiston-Auburn’s downtown — removed from both the population centers and most employers or shops, he said.

An informal count by the Sun Journal on Thursday found about 4.6 percent of the Twin Cities’ turnpike traffic was actually destined for Lewiston and Auburn.

Of the 274 cars that got on the southbound turnpike in Lewiston between 11 a.m. and noon Thursday, only 13 got off in Auburn — or 4.7 percent.

Of the 224 cars that got on the northbound turnpike in Auburn between noon and 1 p.m Thursday, 10 got off in Lewiston. That’s about 4.5 percent.

It’s not a formal result, but it supports local assumptions that the turnpike’s Twin Cities interchanges don’t help local traffic patterns.

Stone agreed. The turnpike makes the most sense for people coming to Lewiston-Auburn from outside of the area, not for travel within it, he said.

“Unless you live in South Lewiston and work in Kittyhawk (Business Park), or want to play golf at Martindale, there is very little need to use the turnpike,” Stone said. “There are other ways to get there.”

Instead, Stone suggested that electronic tolls might be in Maine’s future. Stretches of the turnpike would be equipped with gantries that either capture E-ZPass information or take pictures of license plates.

“Then, you’d get a bill in the mail a month or so later for $10, $20 or whatever — however much you used the turnpike,” he said.

That would charge tolls equitably, he said.

“It’s not based on where you live, but how much you use the turnpike, and that’s more equitable,” he said.

That kind of toll structure could be years away, Stone said.

“The technology exists now and … the industry is moving in that direction,” he said.

staylor@sunjournal.com

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