In today’s Boston Globe, Barry Bluestone and Stephanie Pollack write that a 19-cent increase in the state gasoline tax will save Massachusetts residents money, reaching a very different conclusion than I did in a post on Wednesday.

Bluestone and Pollack, the director and associate director of the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University, say motorists spend an estimated $718 million each year on car repairs attributed to bad roads, well above the $500 million annual cost of the gas tax increase.

“One blown-out tire or bent wheel can cost a lot more to fix than several years of a higher gas tax,” they write.

I cited the same $718 million figure in my post, as did Gov. Deval Patrick in announcing his gas-tax proposal, but I was a bit more skeptical about it for three reasons. For one, it was developed by TRIP, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit funded primarily by road construction companies and labor unions, two groups that have an interest in bigger and bigger road construction budgets.

Second, Massachusetts roads are not that bad compared to many other states. The TRIP report ranks Massachusetts 27th in the nation in terms of additional vehicle operating costs as a result of the condition of its roads.

Finally, there’s no guarantee that Patrick’s proposal will eventually result in roads with glass-like surfaces where blown-out tires or bent wheels will become relics of the past. Very little of the proposed gas tax increase — about 3 cents out of the 19-cent increase — would actually go for fixing up existing highways and bridges.

Bluestone and Pollack are right about one thing. They point out that Turnpike users and T riders would definitely save money with a gas tax increase, since most of the new gas tax funding in the governor’s proposal would be used to avoid toll hikes on the Massachusetts Turnpike, forestall fare increases at the MBTA, and launch new commuter rail projects.