Channel 4 reports a state trooper investigating a crash on the Newton stretch of the turnpike was hit by a car driven by a suspected drunk and thrown 30 feet into the air early this morning. A Framingham man was arrested; the trooper is at Beth Israel with serious injuries.

The Globe reports the administration will introduce legislation in January - along with more specifics (such as: What happens to the toll plazas?). Also, the governor will propose several hundred million in budget cuts for state agencies.

Jay Fitzgerald says it's about time to eliminate William Callahan's baby, but adds:

It's a disgrace it took this long.

Associated Press reports on the settlement between the family of Milena Del Valle of Jamaica Plain and 15 entities, including contractors and the turnpike authority over her wrongful death in 2006.

How's an $8.50 tunnel toll grab ya?

Bonus fun quote:

"The last thing I'd want to be associated with is another Longfellow Bridge," [Turnpike Executive Director Alan] LeBovidge said, referring to the 102-year-old span over the Charles River that had to be partially closed this summer when it fell into disrepair.

Yeah, because we all know how well built those turnpike-controlled Big Dig tunnels are.

Imagine a Massachusetts governor attaching his name to a sign across the highway claiming credit for a toll booth. Not a chance. Well, in Illinois, Governor Rod R. Blagojevich has done it many times. The secret is that he is bragging about open road tolling on Interstate 90 and other major highways. The idea is that you travel at highway speed right through the toll plaza if you have their equivalent of a FastLane pass or an E-Z pass. If you need to pay cash, you can also go through the small, regular toll plaza.

Here's a picture I took of this last night, on the way to O'Hare Airport after a cousin's wedding west of Chicago.

Mike Ball makes the case for putting the turnpike authority out of our misery:

... The MTA is a good-sized business that exists to employee toll workers, their managers and board members. As such, it deserves consideration as any corporation. However, from a financial analysis, it is not viable. ...

No more discounts - if the state legislature agrees.

State honcho vows: No tolls on I-93. Which means that tolls on the turnpike will continue to not go away to help pay for the Big Dig.

Commute-a-holic, who lives west of Boston, is not happy:

... I don't understand why North Shore and South Shore drivers get a free ride into Boston, where as everyone who lives West of Boston need to continue to pay to get into the city. It is so unfair. ...

I've noticed that many of the digital signs on the Mass Pike recently started displaying a message similar to this:

"Get Fast Lane
Why wait in line?"

This is what the Exit 12 (Framingham) off-ramp typically looks like for me in the morning.

Patrick administration tries to get MassHighway, Massport to help out MBTA, turnpike authority. Can it work?

Gabrielle Gurley considers:

... Massport is in comparatively good financial shape (at least for now) thanks, in part, to its lucrative parking concession at Logan Airport, but MassHighway has its own debt issues, so it remains to be seen what "assistance" means in the real world.

And, what of MassTrans, the once and future department re-organization plan that no one wants to own anymore? If the Patrick administration can restore a semblance of fiscal health to the T and the Turnpike, all while bypassing a Legislature definitely unenthused about anything that smacks of defiling the state’s sacred transportation org chart, so much the better for the Patrick administration. (Oh, and yes, presumably Massachusetts commuters...) What's next, Fast Lane transponders and Charlie Cards for everyone?