American Trucking Associations has come out strongly against Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo’s 10-year truck-only toll plan, which is meant to fund repairs for infrastructure.
Under the plan, dubbed “RhodeWorks,” the toll would target trucks with three or more axles, and it would place tolling infrastructure along I-95, I-195 and I-295; and routes 6, 10 and 146.
ATA, which is urging that the plan be rejected, has long opposed tolling of existing interstates. The federation contends doing so is inefficient and unsafe.
“Trucking did not create the state’s current infrastructure crisis — that was the result of years of mismanagement and massive diversion of fuel tax and other highway user-fee revenue to fund general government expenses — and it is completely unfair that the industry be targeted to fix it,” ATA President Bill Graves said in a statement. “This plan to toll only trucks is quite literally highway robbery — stealing from our industry to paper over Rhode Island’s budget issues.”
“If Rhode Island’s leaders are serious about fixing their infrastructure funding woes," he added, "they should first and foremost, stop diverting much of their highway-related revenues to nontransportation projects."
