McKee Needs to Stop the “Feed the Beast” Policy - Maxwell
Wednesday, December 15, 2021
At his press conference on Thursday, December 9, Governor Dan McKee was asked if truck tolling should continue given the enormity of the federal funding being delivered to Rhode Island balanced against supply chain issues, inflation, and the negative effects of tolls on business.
I was far less concerned nor surprised by McKee’s response that truck tolls would, in fact, continue, than McKee’s naïve belief that toll monies could somehow shorten the six-year term that remains with RhodeWorks. Has the Governor been listening as of late and does he truly believe we’re even close to achieving what was promised by RIDOT and then Governor Gina Raimondo?
In 2016, Alviti’s critical testimony sold the General Assembly and public on a ten-year plan that would bring our state to the “promised land” of infrastructure sufficiency. This ultimately led to the passage of the RhodeWorks legislation.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTNow, four years later, bolstered by truck-toll revenues and hundreds of millions in grant dollars(aside from the soon to be gotten billions from the feds), Rhode Island is ranked 49th in terms of highway conditions and cost-effectiveness. Meanwhile, Alviti’s original ten-year plan has morphed into a plan that – are you ready - resets every year! It is, in fact, a mortgage without a term.
Governor McKee needs to summon his DOT Director across Smith Street to bring him up to speed on the “new, improved” ten-year plan. McKee may be surprised that his(our)investment has no payoff, but rather, was cleverly designed to perpetually ‘feed the beast’ of Alviti’s constituents rather than reward taxpayers and business owners with lasting roads and bridges that we can finally take pride in.
Chris Maxwell is the President of the Rhode Island Trucking Association
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