Forgive my ignorance, but is this a toll road or an Interstate Highway? How can a state extract a toll for a highway that the Federal Government paid for?
The project's two major components:
Federal Interstate:
Replacing the six-lane elevated highway with an eight-to-ten-lane underground expressway directly beneath the existing road, culminating at its northern limit in a 14-lane, two-bridge crossing of the Charles River. After the underground highway opened to traffic, the crumbling elevated was demolished and in its place will be open space and modest development.
Toll Road:
The extension of I-90 (the Massachusetts Turnpike) from its former terminus south of downtown Boston through a tunnel beneath South Boston and Boston Harbor to Logan Airport. The first link in this new connection - the four-lane Ted Williams Tunnel under the harbor - was finished in December 1995.
That's a very good question....not ignorance
Several states began building turnpikes in the late 40's and early 50's. To pay for them, they established publicly owned corporations called turnpike authorities which would sell bonds to raise the funds to build the turnpikes. The bonds would then be paid off with toll revenue. This occurred before the establishment of the Interstate System. Interstate funding law forbade the use of federal funds on the construction of toll facilities, but it allowed the Federal Highway Adminiastration to sign the routes along tunrpikes. Thus, I-90 was routed along the New York State Thruway and the MassPike.