Pols Offer Ways to Cover $17 Million Shortfall If Toll Plan Fails
Legislators told the Tiverton Town Council on Monday that any plans to stop tolls on the Sakonnet River Bridge would leave a $17 million funding gap.
East Bay legislators told the Tiverton Town Council on Monday that any efforts to undermine the the placement of tolls on the Sakonnet River Bridge would need to address a $17 million annual funding shortfall. According to Sen. Louis P. DiPalma, to maintain Newport County's four bridges — the Newport Pell Bridge, Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge, Mt. Hope Bridge, and the Sakonnet — will cost the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority (RITBA) an estimated $38 million annually over the next 10 years. Effectively, the revenues from a Sakonnet River Bridge toll would do more to pay for maintenance projects on the RITBA's other older bridges, as the Sakonnet River Bridge is a state-of-the-art new construction, said Rep. John G. Edwards (D-Dist…
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DownTown
9:30 am on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
The Jamestown bridge was built with Federal funds and should be the maintained by the DOT as it has been. Giving it to RIBTA was just another way to dump costs on locals. How about they toll one of the 600+ other bridges in the State. more ›