Rhode Island full speed ahead on truck tolls

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation has entered into a contract with Kapsch Traffic Com IVHS to design and build electronic tolling facilities and related infrastructure for the state’s controversial truck-only tolling program.    The Rhode Island Department of Transportation has entered a contract with Kapsch Traffic Com IVHS to design and build electronic tolling facilities and related infrastructure for the state’s controversial truck-only tolling program. 
   Kapsch will also operate and maintain all the tolling facilities, which will take two years to build at a cost of $68.9 million.
   “We look forward to breaking ground in the fall and getting the first tolling locations operational by the end of this year,” Peter Alviti Jr., the state’s DOT director, said in a statement.
   Construction of the tolling facilities will be ongoing through the end of 2018, with tolling locations coming online as they are built. The first two tolling locations will be built along Interstate-95 in southern Rhode Island, and are expected to be operational and collecting revenue by the end of 2017.
   Part of the state’s 10-year RhodeWorks program, the truck-only tolling program will help fund the reconstruction of aging bridges. Through the program, the state will repair 150 “structural deficient” bridges and keep another 500 from becoming deficient.
   “This approach avoids more costly and time consuming rehabilitation or total replacement projects which could cost three to four times as much money – a strategy that will save Rhode Island $950 million over 10 years,” the state said.
   The plan, however, has been met with strong opposition, both from trucking groups and lawmakers within the Rhode Island legislature, since it was announced in mid-2015.
   Kapsch, based in Vienna, Austria and with its U.S. office in McLean Va., was picked from among six firms representing the electronic tolling industry. Rhode Island issued the request for proposals back in December.