Toll Booth Structures Being Demolished On Everett Turnpike

MERRIMACK, NH - The toll plazas at Exit 11 in Merrimack on the F.E. Everett Turnpike have begun to be demolished.

The Executive Council recently approved Busby Construction of Atkinson, NH to remove the steel and concrete structures for the cost of $578,000. The removal will be funded by tolls collected at other locations.

Executive Councilor Debora Pignatelli, D-Nashua, said the contract ends a campaign she started when she first became a Councilor in 2004. “I have tried for 16 years to one way or another zero out these tolls. I get to cross off a huge item off my bucket list that has been there for 16 years,” Pignatelli said at the council meeting.

In November 2019, the Executive Council voted to eliminate charging tolls at the Exit 11 location, and the collection of tolls stopped on January 1, 2020. A study by the state showed it was costing more money to collect the tolls than the amount being collected. State officials said at the time that manned tolls at Exit 11 were costing the system 93 cents for every 50-cent toll they were receiving.

The toll booth will remain at Exit 10 which is the location of the Merrimack Premium Outlets, a popular shopping destination. The tollbooth at Exit 12 were eliminated in 2014.

©Jeffrey Hastings www.frameofmindphoto.com/news