Mass. To Install High Speed, Cashless Toll System

The new system would replace all of the tolls in the state, but could put about 400 state employees out of work.

Want less waiting in line and sifting for loose change on the Mass Pike? According to state transportation officials, you’ll soon get your wish. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation will install electronic tolling system that replaces the current E-ZPass and toll-taker set up with overhead censors that read E-ZPasses on cars traveling at high speeds and would generate a monthly bills to drivers who do not have an E-ZPass, according to WBUR.  The system would cost $100 million to build, but if the toll takers are eliminated, the system will pay for itself in about two to three years, the story says. The new system could put about 400 toll collectors out of work, but some could be retained and placed in other state position, …

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Man Dies After Jumping from Tobin Bridge

State Police are investigating the incident, which occurred at around 2:20 p.m., as a 'non-homicide,' according to reports.

Massachusetts State Police are investigating the sudden death of a man they believe jumped off the Tobin Bridge on Thursday afternoon. "Uniformed State Police units were notified at about 2:20 [p.m.] that the deceased pulled over on the Charlestown side of the bridge and jumped over the railing," Jake Wark, press secretary for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, said in an email briefing. Police believe the man leaped from the southbound lane of the Tobin Bridge, Wark said. State Police assigned to Troop E, along with members of the Boston Fire Department and Boston EMS, responded to the call. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.  The bridge had been cleared by the time of the briefing, about 4 p.m. "The evidence and …

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UPDATED: Woman Dies After Jump From Tobin

After surviving the initial fall, the 36-year-old Rhode Island woman was pronounced dead at MGH.

Editor's Note: This article was updated at 11:18 a.m. with the latest information from the Massachusetts State Police According to the Boston Globe, a woman was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital after jumping from the upper deck of the Tobin Bridge last night. The jumper, whose name hasn’t been released, began threatening to leap shortly before 5:50 p.m., causing police to briefly close one lane on the bridge, a state police spokesman told the Globe. The woman was spotted in the water by a marine unit, and was alive when she was pulled from the Mystic River. Troopers pulled the woman from the water and began administering emergency medical aid, and were met on the Charlestown side of the river by Boston EMS, who brought her to …

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Upcoming Tobin Bridge Work and Your Drive

Work on the bridge has already begun, and will continue into June.

A contractor has already begun work on the Tobin Bridge, and work will ramp up over the coming weeks. State Rep. Eugene O'Flaherty's office sent over the following explanation of the work being conducted and how it may impact your commute. All work scheduled to be completed this year will be on the Charlestown side of the bridge. If the contractor is ahead of schedule towards the tail end of the season (ending around November 15, 2012) the contractor will begin staging on the Chelsea side for work during the next painting season (beginning around April 15, 2013). In order to accelerate the three-year schedule to minimize impacts to the community, work will be performed on a six-day work week with a 12hr shift. In past bridge painting …

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The Mystic River (or Tobin) Bridge

It's the longest bridge in New England, spanning the Mystic River right above Charlestown.

It took two years to build the Mystic River Bridge (also known as the Tobin Bridge). It was officially dedicated and opened for traffic on February 25, 1950. At just over 2 miles long, the bridge is the longest in New England and one of the longest in the country, exceeding even the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Its roadway is forty-two feet wide. At its highest point the bridge stands at 258 feet and has a clearance of 135 feet over mean high water. Close to 30 million vehicles cross the bridge every year. How the bridge came to be built In 1802 the Salem Turnpike and the Chelsea Bridge Corporation were given permission to construct, maintain and operate a toll bridge between Chelsea and Charlestown. In 1803, the Chelsea Bridge was…

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