For whom the truck tolls
Rhode Island reports $7.2M collected from gantries as Conn. considers similar plan
Rhode Island is earning slightly more revenue from truck tolls than initially expected — a success that could boost the chance of a similar levy in Connecticut.
Since Rhode Island placed overhead electronic toll gantries on highway bridges in mid2017, the state netted over $7.2 million from its first two tolling locations, about $55,000 more than expected, state records show.
When two more gantries were added last summer, the take rose to more than $10.8 million. Rhode Island plans to install eight more gantries over highway bridges to generate $450 million annually for repairs and improvements.
“The numbers are coming in a bit better than we had expected but on target overall,” said Lisbeth Pettengill, spokeswoman for the Rhode Island Department of Transportation.
“We are very pleased with this program as it draws revenue from large commercial tractor trailer trucks that do the largest percentage of damage to our roads,” Pettengill said.
Still, tolls as a revenue source for highway work is not guaranteed. Rhode Island’s truck toll program is being challenged in court as unfair and unconstitutional.
A federal judge last week issued a procedural decision that said the case could be heard in federal court.
Gov. Ned Lamont and the General Assembly’s majority Democrats are considering a similar solution to fund highway work. Democrats want to place 12 truck tolls on highway bridges around the state to generate $180 million annually for improvements.
Lamont initially pro
posed tolling trucks and cars — a far more lucrative option — but opposition from his own party forced him to downgrade the plan to only trucks.
Republicans instead propose to use a portion of the state’s reserve or “rainy day” fund to leverage low cost federal loans.
Reacting to the federal court ruling, Lamont rejected calls to change course, pointing out that the ruling did not address the merits of the case.
“The ruling says nothing about the strength of the underlying legal challenge to trucksonly tolls, which, far from being a burden on interstate commerce, are a commonsense way to benefit that commerce by asking the in and outofstate commercial trucks that do the most damage to our roads to pay their fair share of maintenance and congestion mitigation projects,” Lamont said.
Both the Republican and Democratic plans envision spending about $20 billion by 2030 on rail, bus and highway improvements. The new toll revenue would be dedicated to bridge and highway work
Tolls and trucks
While some in Connecticut fear truck drivers will find ways around highway tolls, clogging local roads in the process, Rhode Island has found the number of trucks passing underneath its gantries increased over time, indicating drivers are not seeking alternate routes.
Data from the Rhode Island DOT shows that when the first two toll locations went live in July 2018 about 188,000 trucks passed under two I95 locations.
By May 2019, transactions at those locations grew to more than 204,000. Revenue generated also grew, from more than $625,000 in July 2018 to more than $672,000 in May of this year.
The addition of two more gantries, in August and October, showed the same trend.
The number of trucks now passing under four scanners grew from more than 194,000 in July to about 245,000 in October.
Pettengill said Rhode Island expects to activate its fifth gantry this month and plans to push ahead with the remaining locations.
“We had some delays earlier this year due to flooding in the Midwest, which is where the steel fabricators are that provide the materials for the gantries,” Pettengill said.
Pettengill stressed that money earned from truck tolls is dedicated to bridge work.
“RhodeWorks legislation specifies that the tolling revenue will provide ten percent of our total funding, or $450 million over ten years,” Pettengill said,
“In ten years from our start date, or in 2025, we will have 90 percent bridge sufficiency,” Pettengill said, referring to the result of the highway work.
A spokesman for Lamont did not respond to requests for comment on Rhode Island’s toll revenue or its impact on the debate in Connecticut.
The devisive issue of tolls could be resolved during a special legislative session in the next month or so, or when the General Assembly reconvenes in February.
‘Harmful to our industry’
Despite the monetary success, Rhode Island’s toll program is facing a serious legal challenge and has plenty of opponents.
The American Trucking Associations is battling the tolls in court, arguing that charging trucks is discriminatory and violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
The federal court decision last week essentially overturned a lower court decision on jurisdiction and said the case could proceed in U.S. District Court.
The decision prompted state Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, RNorth Haven, to call on Lamont to scrap the idea of tolls.
“The court’s decision gives credence to the trucking industry’s challenge,”
Fasano said. “It ties up this issue in litigation for years to come, leaves doubt and uncertainty in the ability to toll only trucks, and creates significant economic risk for taxpayers.
“Tolling trucks sets us up for failure and leads us down a path to car tolls.”
Lamont rejected Fasano’s argument.
“Senator Fasano either misunderstands or is greatly exaggerating the court’s decision for political gain,” Lamont said.
“This federal circuit court decision, which is not binding in Connecticut, has simply held that truckers may bring their meritless claims in federal court as well as state court,” Lamont added.
“What is not in dispute is that Connecticut must make investments in its transportation infrastructure in order to help grow the state’s economy,” Lamont said.
In September, Darren Hawkins, an American Trucking Associations executive committee member, told Congress tolls are often misused by states.
“Federal law allows states to shift excess toll revenue to any (federal) eligible purpose,” Hawkins told members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Highways and Transit. “This results in toll payers bankrolling projects that they may not benefit from.”
Hawkins said tolls can harm the trucking industry and consumers.
“While the trucking industry is willing to pay its fair share for infrastructure improvement, we believe that tolls are not the right solution and in fact can be very harmful to our industry, our customers and ultimately, to consumers,” Hawkins said.
The ATA also told committee members that toll collection costs can exceed 10 percent of the take.
Hawkins said Ohio is spending 19 cents to collect a dollar of toll revenue while Pennsylvania’s collection rate exceeds 20 percent of revenue obtained.