No, the point was that the tolls on the MA Pike were supposed to be removed once the bonds for BUILDING THE MASS PIKE were paid. That never happened and the Turnpike Authority became forever until the legislature had a moment of clarity.

One way to pay for them is fuel taxes, realizing that may not work in the future but it does now. The other way to pay for them would be figuring out how it is per mile road spending in MA is so damn high even those the roads suck. Somehow there are plenty of other states that have both better roads and much less per mile spending. Do they have less density? Maybe but that doesn't explain all of it.

I'll point to the Rt 3 expansion between 128 and NH as a great example. At about the same time, NH expanded and reworked their section north of the border. Even when both sections were quite new, it was clear NH's was better. It was graded better (no undulations) and over the years, it's remained better. I travel that road all the time and the traffic and weather are similar. It's clear MA built their part to a lower standard and this was confirmed by civil eng I knew on the project.

So forgive me if I'm not just going to go along with spending more on roads in MA without question.

don't you mean western part?

Odometer readings would be problematic because a lot of that mileage could be out of state, but you're quite right on local tolls.

Zero? Absolute statements when it comes to anything to do with the law are nearly always wrong.

If we end up with a toll system that tracks where a vehicle goes (which would be necessary for local road tolls), that'll have 4A implications. If we put trackers in cars for the same reason, that'll have 4A implications.

I note those examples because simple odometer readings as a method would also be challenged because much of that usage could be out of state.

That all may be the case, but it's beside the point because it all happened after the situation I laid out.

I predict there will be some 4th Amendment concerns out of any of these schemes.

Yes, if EV ownership increases significantly, tax revenue for road maintenance will need to be rethought somehow and maybe that means tolls. However, that's not going to help with local roads unless the toll taking technology changes substantially. In other words, fuel taxes affect people regardless of whether they use local roads or highways.

Good lesson in how governments often work (with the MA state government being a prime example).

The tolls were added to the Pike because they were required to fund the construction. Once the bonds were paid off, the tolls were supposed to be removed and of course, that never happened. Instead, the Turnpike Authority made a good effort to preserve their own existence by maintaining the pike to a level far beyond the other highways in the state. They also wasted a ton of money by hiring toll takers (typically friends and family of politicians or turnpike authority execs) for ridiculous salaries to do mindless jobs.

Then, of course, the Big Dig came and tolls were used to help fund that.

Now this politician wants to "start a conversation" (i.e. waste legislature time) to apply this wrong to the rest of the state. Great.

Yes. I agree with the analysis.

IANAL, but I've had a lot of interactions with them dealing with patents.

As an engineer, I just don't get the way they think. It seems like a major foundation of the law is cognitive dissonance and/or willful ignorance.

I don't understand how this isn't a violation of the 5th amendment, but it's not the first time the MA supreme judicial court hasn't cared about the US Constitution.

The 5th amendment's takings clause should already cover this, but it seems to be ignored with civil asset forfeiture.

They work with copper and pex. CPVC is what's used for potable water but I don't have any experience with that. OD on pex and copper is the same but I believe CPVC is different, so probably doesn't work there.

Most of my house is copper but one section is pex and the transition was done with Sharkbites almost 10 years ago. It's still fine.

What are you talking about? Sharkbite fittings work with copper and pex. They're a great way to transition from one to the other.

Pex isn't PVC.

You're at fault. The person in front wasn't break(sic) checking you, they were braking because it's a yield.

Learn to drive.

For anyone who has a burst pipe, go get some Sharkbite fittings, some pex tubing, a pipe cutter, a cheap pex tool and a file and there's a good chance you can fix the problem yourself.

You might want to treat the result as a temporary repair but it's not difficult. DM me and I'll walk you through it.

If it's private jets, they're small and won't amount to much traffic. So what's the issue?

Of course, you should actually read the OP

Everyone who lives in those towns moved in knowing there's an Air Force base there. They used to have regular air shows and I toured a C17 there about 20 years ago.

If you moved in and didn't do your research, don't expect sympathy.

Exactly.

You don't seem to be very familiar with the communities of Lincoln, Bedford, Lexington, and Concord. Those are exactly the rich people who would benefit, with the Netjets subscriptions, etc.

Hanscom has a poor record on water because of the Air Force, not the private air side.

I say expand because Logan sucks. What about the environmental impact of all the traffic stopped on 93 trying to get in there?

For anyone looking at this pic and commenting on the tree growth, go walk through Minuteman NHP in Concord, then go drive around the surrounding residential areas. Minuteman NHP was clearcut to make it look like it was in 1775. Before that park was built, there were residential neighborhoods with trees growing between the houses. The rest of suburban MA still has those trees and they keep growing.

There is more total tree biomass in Massachusetts now than 50 years ago.

Not true.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/nrs/pubs/ru/ru_fs161.pdf

If you actually look at the studies, the total biomass of trees in MA is increasing and the removal of live trees is going down.

I've lived in this state long enough to have seen many areas go from clearcut farmland to more wooded. Additionally, tree growth is many suburban neighborhoods is substantial.

Yes, such a thing exists.

You can get a permit by passing a written test and that's it. On the permit, you can ride during limited hours and can't have a passenger. It's pretty easy. Alternatively, UHaul rents trailers designed to transport bikes.

So why is this particular bike worth the effort?

And don't buy $450 of cleaning supplies from Home Depot and pay with your credit card, or leave the bloody knife in your basement.