By Steve Ahlquist in
Rhode Island’s Future
The idea of installing 14 tolling gantries and charging trucks
up to $20 to transport goods through our state is key to Governor Gina Raimondo’s plan to generate the funds needed to repair
Rhode Island’s crumbling bridges and roads.
There is a logic to this: Trucks are heavy and do the most
damage to the roads so they should pay their share.
In her State of the State address, Governor Raimondo said,
“While we’re at it, let’s reject the politics of procrastination and pass
RhodeWorks.” Both House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello and
Senate President Teresa Paiva-Weed have strongly
supported the program.
The revised RhodeWorks plan is cheaper, and is to include a
strict prohibition on tolling cars without a public referendum.
“Generally,” said Mattiello, “I don’t like referendum
questions.” But he included this feature in the truck toll bill to cut off
opposition to the plan based on the slippery slope: tolling trucks will now not
lead to tolling cars without a majority vote from the public.
At the Greater Providence Chamber of
Commerce (GCPP), Mattiello said, “I’ve thought
about this more than any of you care to.”
Mattiello says he’s consulted experts on the economic impact,
and that the “experts say it is going to improve the economy… I don’t know any
way to do this without listening to the experts.”
The GCPP is a strong, vocal supporter of the truck toll bill, as
are the Building Trades. Michael Sabitoni, President of the Rhode Island Building and Construction Trades Council was
a welcomed, if surprising guest at the GPCC luncheon.
After the GPCC luncheon, about five hundred members of the
various building trades and their allies showed up at the State House to
express their support for RhodeWorks.
So many union members showed up it took over an hour for them
all to enter through the metal detectors. There was supposed to be a speaking
program from union leaders, and maybe it happened, but I had to leave.
It didn’t matter. Labor made their point. They want (and need)
the jobs that come with fixing our bridges and roads.
Rhode Island needs to repair and upgrade its infrastructure and
government, business and labor are all in agreement that the debate as to how
to pay for it is over: The plan is RhodeWorks.
Steve Ahlquist is an award-winning
journalist, writer, artist and founding member of the Humanists of Rhode
Island, a non-profit group dedicated to reason, compassion, optimism, courage
and action. The views expressed are his own and not necessarily those of any
organization of which he is a member. atomicsteve@gmail.com
and Twitter: @SteveAhlquist