Transportation secretary supports permanent Fast Lane discount

BOSTON - Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen has come out in support of making the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority’s Fast Lane discounts permanent if funding for the program can be secured.

The Turnpike board voted Tuesday to extend the discount through June while Cohen and fellow members continue to seek cost savings and legislative help to pay for the program permanently.

The discount, which without action would have ended by April 1, saves commuters who use electronic transponders 25 cents off the $1 toll at the Allston-Brighton plaza and 50 cents off the $3 tolls at the Sumner and Ted Williams tunnels.

The program, which costs about $12 million a year, has been paid for largely through the $75 million sale of turnpike land, but officials have not come up with a permanent funding source.

Cohen, a member of the Turnpike board who will become chairman in July, said the state has identified $3.5 million that can be used to keep the discount through June.

That extension will allow the Turnpike Authority to review its financial condition, identify potential savings, and seek help from the Legislature, he said.

”First of all, there are no easy fixes here,” Cohen told The Boston Globe. ”Coming up with $12 million of ongoing funding to keep the discount going for the future is not easy.”

The discount program has long been supported by lawmakers from west of Boston, who have said their constituents have paid an inequitable proportion of the $14.6 billion Big Dig project through tolls.

”I’m happy to work with the executive branch to make sure ... the Fast Lane discount program is able to be maintained,” State Rep. David Linsky, D-Natick, said. ”Quite frankly, my preference would be to drop any discussion of eliminating it.”

Gov. Deval Patrick, while rejecting a proposal to eliminate Turnpike tolls west of Route 128, has also said he would support making the discount permanent.