A new poll commissioned by Transportation for Massachusetts (T4MA) suggests that a majority of Massachusetts residents could support new tolls or higher gas taxes and registration fees to pay for the Commonwealth's transportation infrastructure.
The MassINC Polling Group surveyed 702 Massachusetts residents at the end of Feburary with about two dozen questions, most of which were focused on transportation issues (editor's note: the poll was sponsored by the Barr Foundation, which is also a major financial supporter of StreetsblogMASS).
Crucially, the poll questions also included considerable context about the challenges the state is facing in paying for transportation projects and programs.
For instance, pollsters told participants that "Massachusetts receives billions of dollars in federal funding for transportation, including for big projects like
fixing the Turnpike in Allston and the bridges to Cape Cod" before asking "do you think that Massachusetts can rely on federal funding for transportation under the Trump administration, or should Massachusetts have a plan to pay for transportation without federal funding?"
59 percent said that Massachusetts should have a back-up plan to pay for projects without federal assistance, and only 21 percent believed that the state can still rely on Washington.
Follow-up questions delved into some possibilities for raising more state revenue. 48 percent of respondents supported a study of congestion pricing, which was implemented in New York City earlier this year and is showing signs of considerable success.
A slight majority of respondents said that they'd also support phasing out the gasoline tax, which is expected to dwindle as more drivers switch to electric cars, with either a new mileage-based fee or with new tolls on more roadways.
But the poll's most popular suggestion for raising revenue was a weight-based vehicle registration fee:
Massachusetts hasn’t changed the fees that drivers pay to register a car or truck since 2014. In some states it costs more to register heavier cars, which do more damage to the roads and are more dangerous in a crash. How much would you support or oppose Massachusetts basing its registry fees on the weight of the car or truck?
- Strongly support: 19%
- Somewhat support: 38%
- Somewhat oppose: 18%
- Strongly oppose: 13%
- Don't know/refused to answer: 12%
“I think some of the interest in these new approaches to transportation funding has to do with fairness,” said Richard Parr, Senior Research Director at The MassINC Polling Group, in a press release accompanying the poll results. “Right now electric vehicles aren’t contributing to the upkeep of the roads, and when residents hear that, they are open to some new ideas to fix that.”
Reggie Ramos, the executive director of Transportation for Massachusetts, told StreetsblogMASS on Wednesday that the organization and its coalition members will bring these ideas to the State House at a "Day of Action" scheduled for April 2.
"We think lawmakers can be parters in developing a strategy for sustainable transportation funding, especially given the uncertainty of the federal funding right now," Ramos said. "This poll shows that there is indeed a growing interest of residents to pursue finding concrete, long-term revenue options for transportation, and not just a stopgap measure."
