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I was surprised to see that no one here posted anything about the recently announced plan to place tolls for trucks on bridges around the state. What do people think? Is this reasonable? I am not sure Federal Highway will approve such a plan since it appears to place tolls on existing bridges and only charges trucks. Thoughts? Jay
I was surprised to see that no one here posted anything about the recently announced plan to place tolls for trucks on bridges around the state. What do people think? Is this reasonable? I am not sure Federal Highway will approve such a plan since it appears to place tolls on existing bridges and only charges trucks. Thoughts? Jay
Maybe wishful thinking- maybe not. The plan seems reasonable. RI is one of the few NE states not to benefit from tolls. I think creative revenue streams that don't directly impact the average RI'er should be the ones on the table. We are a very small overtaxed state in terms of our residents.
No way is this going to fly federally. Getting federal approval to add tolls to a non-tolled, already constructed Interstate is not at all easy. The dodge of declaring any old overpass to be a 'bridge' is pretty transparent.
Going after commercial trucks only is an interesting gimmick, but only charging one type of vehicle is also not likely to be an easy sell federally, since after all their main interest in this is ensuring that states don't mess up interstate commerce with their local schemes.
To make that even worse, there seems to be an intent to somehow make this *not* hit local RI trucking, just long-haul thru trucks. That raises huge federal issues; we barely got away with having a lower in-state rate for tolls on the Pell Bridge, and I think there is still litigation pending on that. No way would that fly for an actual interstate. But to make it work politically, you'd have to give local firms a break -- for every long-haul truck passing thru Boston, how many times does a Petro oil truck or Cardis delivery van drive over the two 195 bridges between Providence and Barrington? Matiello is already all over that.
Then there is enforcement: when a truck doesn't pay, you've got to somehow track it down and make someone pay. EVen in their initial proposal the state estimates that administrative costs will eat up at least 1/3 of the tolls collected, an insanely high % compared to typical toll projects. If that figure is optimistic, or if truck traffic declines somewhat due to rerouting, the thing could easily become a money loser.
Sure, it's a clever move to try to fund road construction only by hitting out-of-state trucking companies. But it just reeks of GIMMICK.
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If what you say regarding imposing tolls on an already constructed toll road is accurate neguy99, it sounds like RI missed a chance to impose said tolls when they decided to repair the Pawtucket I-95 bridge, and/or the I-way.
^ I am a little unsure on the point about them running afoul of federal regulations by going after trucks only. After all, both New Hampshire's and Massachusetts' toll systems impose a tiered toll rate based upon the class of vehicle/number of axles a vehicle has and even whether the rear tires are single or double (per side of axle). At first glance it would seem that if NH and MA can get away with a tiered rate structure, RI could just set the rate for two axle with single rear tire vehicles to 0. Smaller trucks would slide through... So it seems like there is a precedent for imposing tolls non-uniformly.
On the subject of precedent, there seems also to be a precedent to giving local vehicles a reduced rate. The Mass Turnpike Authority already gives a discount to residents of East Boston North End, and South Boston for trips through the tunnels, and to Chelsea and Charlestown for trips over the Tobin.
It doesn't seem all that different from NH tolls at the border with Mass., other than the truck only bit. Sure it is a gimmick, but it is an effective one.
I don't particularly care for highway tolls of any sort.
From some more research, the federal court ruling on the Pell Bridge relied on the fact that the toll didn't single out any specific in-state commecial interest to benefit. If a toll is specific to commercial trucks with some kind of exemption for RI-based trucking firms, that gets dicier.
One difference from the NH I-95 tolls is that it will be pretty easy to detour around the tolls in RI since several of the locations are in the middle of town. Probably wouldn't convince a long-haul guy to detour but expect those Cardi's and Petro's trucks I mentioned to start taking the Henderson Bridge and rolling through Wayland Sq.
On another note, Mayor Elorza is already hoping to see some of the toll money devoted to the Providence Streetcar...
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^I think they could prohibit trucks from using the Henderson bridge without too much difficulty and impose a stiff fine for violators.
I guess there is also talk of bringing a mileage tax, a la Oregon, to RI. That is, a tax is assessed based on odometer readings. I don't see how that works in RI: the only vehicles that affects are RI registered vehicles, thereby giving a free pass to out of state registrations. That seems to be diametrically opposed to the approach of taxing out of state trucks.
These tolls sound complicated. With gas prices apparently low, now is a good time for the Feds to slap on a buck per gallon tax and allow states to add half a buck.
I get so irritated with car drivers. Want decent roads? Pony up. Don't want to pony up? Stop kvetching. After all, driving is a privilege and not a right.
These tolls sound complicated. With gas prices apparently low, now is a good time for the Feds to slap on a buck per gallon tax and allow states to add half a buck.
I get so irritated with car drivers. Want decent roads? Pony up. Don't want to pony up? Stop kvetching. After all, driving is a privilege and not a right.
I think the issue is not with "ponying up", but what, exactly, is happening once said money is sufficiently "ponied".
These tolls sound complicated. With gas prices apparently low, now is a good time for the Feds to slap on a buck per gallon tax and allow states to add half a buck.
I get so irritated with car drivers. Want decent roads? Pony up. Don't want to pony up? Stop kvetching. After all, driving is a privilege and not a right.
We are already paying through the nose A Boy. If they hadn't all these years diverted gas tax and other auto related revenue, to unrelated spending (which we all know is mostly entitlements); then all the roads would be paved in gold today.
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