Mass., NH lawmakers unite to fight border tolls on I-93

Kevin Landrigran reports in the Nashua Telegraph on the joint effort by Massachusetts and New Hampshire lawmakers to avoid a pair of dueling toll booths along the border:

Lawmakers said they created the Border Coalition to prevent a bidding war as state officials compete for federal support to erect a New Hampshire toll in the southbound lane of Interstate 93 in Salem and Massachusetts tolls just over the state line."The amount of support I get from the public is overwhelming," said state Rep. Frank Sapareto, R-Derry, who worked with Massachusetts lawmakers to form the coalition.

"I haven't met anyone who is strongly in favor of putting tolls up there."

Sapareto got 65 New Hampshire lawmakers to join after a few hours of buttonholing individuals during a recent House session.

The New Hampshire House has 399 members.

Only five Massachusetts senators have signed up from that body, which has 40 members.

"We've not had an easy time of it in either state getting Democrats to get on board," Sapareto said.