Posted on 02/14/2018 7:48:03 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Construction has begun on Rhode Island's new tractor trailer tolling system.
The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) crews began installing the first two of 14 planned gantry locations by Exits 2 and 5 on Interstate 95.
Lane closures are in effect through next week, then the contractor will test the new system for about a month. These gantries are expected to begin charging trucks by mid-March, once everything is working properly.
The ongoing construction is not halting the plans of the Rhode Island Trucking Association (RITA) to sue the state. "It's discriminatory," said RITA President Chris Maxwell. You can't single out one type of vehicle and one sector to shoulder the burden for shared use of an infrastructure."
Maxwell has been actively fighting the concept of truck tolls since the idea was first tossed around three years ago. "They put it on trucks knowing that inevitably a lawsuit would put it back down to cars," Maxwell said. "If you're going to toll, toll everybody...Our win [could be] a major loss for the citizens of Rhode Island."
Governor Gina Raimondo is undeterred. "We had to take action," she told ABC6 News. "We had some of the worst roads in America and now we're fixing them."
"[RITA] will sue," she continued. "We're going to fight the lawsuit and I think we'll prevail."
RIDOT has argued tolling trucks is the fair way to go, saying one large tractor trailer causes the same amount of damage as 9,600 passenger vehicles. "Common sense: everybody knows that large trucks are going to create more damage to the road than somebody's passenger vehicle," said RIDOT Director Peter Alviti, Jr.
RIDOT officials estimate, once all gantry locations are in place, that the tolls will bring in around $45-million in revenue; $5-million of which will go toward gantry operation and maintenance, with the rest toward repairing bridges and roads.
The tolls will fund about ten-percent of the RhodeWorks 10-year plan, according to Alviti.
I hope companies stop delivering goods
End user always pay.
The cost of shipping in RI just went up.
A trucking strike in RI for a few months would certainly change their feelings.
I do not doubt the trucks damage the roads multiple times as much as a passenger car/truck/van, but 9600 times as much? I would figure a range of 6 to 50 times as much based on weight comparisons.
Ironically, little Rhody is enticing all of the Corporations with tax incentives.
It is the armpit of New England.
Yes it is like 10,000 times as much.
80,000 lhs at 60mph packs a wallop. It’s a cubed factor
BTW - under DJTs plan you‘ll see lots more tolling
Go back to delivering goods by oxcart. That should take care of the problem.
They will just use back roads, or they will skirt Rhode Island if they’re interstate.
........another Tax Plan by a Democratic Governor, who’s surprised?
Trucking companies will raise their prices, shippers will raise there and the sheeple population will pay more and they will be so dumb they will elect the woman again...........that’s how it works...............which is why we have a huge exodus from Democratic States.
All those ruts are caused by trucks.
Good luck on collecting from trucks registered in other states and provinces. Some will not provide contact info for billing to the state. Maine is discussing automated tolling and the director of the Turnpike authority is opposed because of the loss factor from people from other states that will just drive through without an easy pass.
Massachusetts is doing this and is only collecting 60% of charges.
Cars cause 3 times more accidents. Cars are careless.
You're saying there are an equal number of cars as trucks?
Truck's speeds should be regulated by requiring them to have the same stopping distance as a car.
More damage yet somehow the money from the tolls never goes to fixing the roads.
Shipping containers: Cross country by rail, load em onto trucks. Regional delivery by truck. We need more intermodal shipping terminals.
It will cost them more than they will ever make.
1) Increase taxes on trucks
2) Truckers raise prices
3) Stores raise prices
4) Consumers buy out of state, no longer pay state taxes.
5) Trucks deliver out of state, no longer pay stupid tax.
6) In state businesses fail, no longer pay taxes.
7) Operators/Employees of these businesses leave state for new jobs, no longer pay state taxes.
Its not rocket science
Yup. Cost of goods goes up due to increased transportation costs. Truckers already page YUGE Road use/transportation taxes.
There isn't really any shipping IN Rhode Island: The shipping is going through Rhode Island to points north (Boston) via I-95
I drove a truck for a couple of years. IIRC Rhode Island had a bunch of weirdo laws that made it desirable to avoid anyway. I can't imagine they have that many trucks on that stretch of I-95. Most of the time when I went up that way I would end up on I-84 to Hartford and from Hartford up to the Mass turnpike and then to the network of interstates surrounding Boston.
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