The Governor has let it be known that he is working out the details of the dismantling of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, and it looks like the reorg will shift the management of the western portions of the Pike to Mass Highway, and the eastern portions will be absorbed by Massport. From the Globe:

Patrick’s plan would turn over the Big Dig and highways within 128 to the Massachusetts Port Authority, an agency that has primarily focused on air and sea travel, and give the Massachusetts Highway Department re sponsibility for the turnpike west of 128. All tolls west of the 128 booths would be eliminated except those in Sturbridge and Stockbridge, the gateways to New York and Connecticut.The tolls at 128 would likely end only for West-bound commuters though that has yet to be finalized according to a state official. But even as word of the sweeping legislation began circulating around Beacon Hill, several crucial questions remained unanswered: Is Massport financially, legally, and logistically capable of taking on one of the world’s most complicated tunnel projects, with maintenance costs of at least $100 million a year? Will the independent board that oversees Massport agree to assume that responsibility? How can the state afford to reduce tolls west of 128 amid a financial crisis that is hitting transportation agencies especially hard? And who would assume the Turnpike Authority’s $2.2 billion debt, incurred mostly by the Big Dig?

“If you don’t have the tolls, which now support the debt, who pays the debt?” asked Representative Joseph Wagner, the Chicopee Democrat who cochairs the transportation committee.

State Senator Steve Baddour of Methuen, the Senate Chair of Transportation, sounded a cautionary note as well.

“I don’t think anyone wants [control of] the turnpike,” said Senator Steven A. Baddour, the Methuen Democrat who co-chairs the Legislature’s Joint Transportation Committee. “I’ve always said Massport is not a road agency. Their primary role is the airport. Let’s not forget where 9/11 emanated from.”

Despite the security challenges highlighted by the 2001 terrorist attacks, Baddour calls Massport the state’s best-run authority and does not want to see it turned into “the next Turnpike Authority.”

Like others, he maintains that he is open to reform possibilities. “I’m not critical of what the governor’s trying to do, because there’s no easy solution,” he said.

The Governor, even without addressing the critical issue of who picks up the Turnpike debt, could get rid of plenty of overhead by eliminating the Turnpike administrative staff. But that could also be done without folding the Turnpike. The Governor is on the right trail here, but the real problem of who pays that $2.2 billion in Turnpike debt sure does have a way of stalling reform. The devil is in the details. And who pays that debt will be the key to whether the Governor is succesful in consolidating our transportation portfolio.