§ 24-17-2. Legislative findings.
The general assembly finds that:
(1) The State of Rhode Island, through the Rhode Island Department of Transportation ("RIDOT�),
funds the repair, replacement, and maintenance of bridges in Rhode Island, except
the Newport Bridge and the Mount Hope Bridge.
(2) Rhode Island depends on three primary sources for funding all transportation infrastructure
construction, maintenance, and operations. These sources are Federal funds, State
bond funds, and motor fuel tax revenue. Of these sources, two (Federal funds and motor
fuel tax revenue) are mutable.
(3) The 2008 Governor's Blue Ribbon Panel on Transportation Funding and the 2011 Senate
Special Commission on Sustainable Transportation funding determined that there is
insufficient revenue available from all existing sources to fund the maintenance and
improvement of Rhode Island transportation infrastructure.
(4) In 2011, the Rhode Island general assembly adopted a component of the recommended
systemic change to transportation funding by creating the Rhode Island Highway Maintenance
Trust Fund, to be funded by an increase in license and registration fees and contributions
from the Rhode Island Capital Plan (RICAP) fund, beginning in FY2014.
(5) Although the State is shifting from long-term borrowing to annual revenues to fund
transportation infrastructure, there is still a funding gap between the revenue needed
to maintain all roads and bridges in good condition and the annual amounts generated
by current revenue sources.
(6) The State has sufficient financial resources to complete the construction of the new
Sakonnet River Bridge and to demolish the existing Sakonnet River Bridge, but does
not have sufficient financial resources to assure the future maintenance and operation
of the Sakonnet River Bridge.
(7) There is limited access to and from Rhode Island's East Bay, consisting of Bristol
and Newport Counties, and this access is restricted both by geography and infrastructure.
The most critical infrastructure includes the four bridges that comprise the access
to Aquidneck Island and Conanicut Island. These four bridges make up less than half
a percent of the total bridges in the state, but comprise approximately twenty percent
of the deck area of all Rhode Island bridges.
(8) Two of the four bridges, the Sakonnet River Bridge and the Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge,
are owned and maintained by RIDOT. The Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority
("RITBA�) currently owns and maintains the other two bridges: the Newport Bridge and
the Mount Hope Bridge.
(9) In the current economic and political climate, cooperation between State departments
and/or quasi-public agencies provides the best opportunity to maximize financial and
knowledge-based resources.
(10) RITBA currently assesses a toll for passage over the Newport Bridge, and this toll
serves as the sole source of revenue for RITBA to maintain both the Newport Bridge
and the Mount Hope Bridge and related appurtenances.
(11) The Federal Highway Administration allows for the placement of tolls on certain transportation
infrastructure in order to assure the improvement and proper operation and maintenance
of the structure and associated roadways.
(12) The current toll structure places undue burden on the residents, businesses, and visitors
who must use the Newport Bridge to access work, schools, shopping, and other essential
services. It is crucial to establish a comprehensive strategy to fund and maintain
the bridges connecting the East Bay.
(13) The transfer of the Sakonnet River Bridge and its appurtenances and the Jamestown
Verrazzano Bridge and its appurtenances to the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority
would be in the best interests of the State of Rhode Island and its residents, particularly
those living and working in the East Bay.
(14) The placement of a toll on the Sakonnet River Bridge, under the direction of RITBA,
would serve to create a more viable means of funding future maintenance and repairs
of the East Bay bridges and would allow for the establishment of a more equitable
toll structure, along with a fund for capital transportation projects and preventive
maintenance in the East Bay.