Rhode Island state officials are pushing ahead with a plan to explore putting tolls on Interstate 95, the state’s top transportation official said, despite U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s disapproval of the idea.
“We’re looking at this as being a necessary option to pursue if we’re going to even begin to approach the level of investment that the existing deficient infrastructure needs, said Michael Lewis, director of the Rhode Island Department of Transportation.
States are generally not allowed to put new tolls on existing interstate highways, but Lewis wants Rhode Island to be identified as a pilot state under a federal program that permits interstate tolls.
“That’s the path that we’re preparing an application for,” he said.
LaHood blasted the idea this month in a television interview.
“We don’t support the kind of approach, though, for roads that have already been built with taxpayer dollars then to be tolled,” LaHood said in an interview posted on television station WPRI’s website.
“If a state or a governor or DOT wants to add capacity, add a lane or two lanes on each side, we think that’s a good use of tolls and we have supported that kind of approach,” he said.
