Dozens of truckers protest toll plan at State House

January 21, 2016 4:36 pm

By News Staff

Reporting by Rebecca Turco

rturco@abc6.com

Dozens of tractor trailers descended on the State House Thursday afternoon in protest of the Governor’s proposal to toll tractor trailers.

A small group of independent small business truckers lead the outcry against Governor Raimondo’s proposed 14 toll gantry locations to help finance her billion dollar Rhode Works plan.

"Every time we’ve got a problem in Rhode Island, we have to address it with a tax. Why don’t we find the money from within the budget and then go forward from there?" said Bob Lafleur of the Rhode Island Independent Contractors Association.

Around 50 truckers from as far as New Hampshire and hundreds of independent truckers and their supporters circled the area and honked their horns, saying the money to fix Rhode Island’s roads and bridges shouldn’t come from truckers.

"It’s just bad business. There’s companies that want to leave. We need to fix the roads and bridges but it’s just the wrong way to do it," said driver Tony Raposo, of North Kingstown.

The truckers just want the money to come from somewhere else, like the 100+ million dollars the state will be getting in Federal Transportation funds over the next five years.

The Senate voted on the Governor’s proposed gantry locations last session, but the House still have to decide. A state-commissioned impact study says the truck tolls will bring half a billion dollars to the state’s economy over ten years and create nearly 6,500 jobs. The tolls would finance a 500 million dollar revenue bond to pay for the project.

"We’ve got significant problems with the Department of Transportation that I think the General Assembly needs to look at and needs to clean up," said Lafleur.

Most of the anti-toll signs bore a message to call House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, who told ABC6 News he welcomes those calls.

"Please call. Become part of the process," he said.

Mattiello supports the tolls on truckers, saying something needs to be done to fix the state’s crumbling infrastructure.

"They are the ones that are making and creating the wear and tear on our bridges and they are basically saying, ‘we don’t want to pay any extra.’ When 80 thousand pounds hits a bridge, it’s a lot more than your average Prius and that’s where all the damage is caused," said Mattiello.

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for the Governor tells us she’s questioning why truckers are willing to pay in nearly every other state. She says they are willing to compromise, but something needs to be done, and she doesn’t want to put the burden on Rhode Island families.