Palm Beach County, FL, officials think lifting tolls on Florida's Turnpike will help relieve congestion on I-95, but state transportation officials don't buy it.

Members of the county's Metropolitan Planning Organization said last week they're so sure a free turnpike would help ease the area's traffic woes that they're willing to spend $50,000 on a study of turnpike operations, The Palm Beach Post reported. The study would look at who uses the turnpike, as well as the amount of tolls collected in the county and how it's spent.

Turnpike officials counter that computer-generated "travel models" showed traffic on I-95 reportedly would decrease 5 percent to 20 percent, while the turnpike would see a 50 percent to 80 percent increase. In addition, turnpike traffic reportedly is growing 6 percent to 8 percent a year.

Without tolls, money will not be available for roadwork or to build new toll plazas, turnpike Director James Ely told The Post. In addition, the toll money is needed to pay off $1.8 billion in bonds for already-completed projects.