Is it better to take on more debt as a state to fix aging and deteriorated bridges and overpasses, or is it wiser to slow down, and pay as you go?
The General Assembly, in the opening weeks of the 2016 session, has already entered a new thicket in the RhodeWorks debate.
The proposal to establish tolls on highways and major roads in Rhode Island for heavy commercial trucks is expected to dominate the session.
As originally introduced in 2015, by Gov. Gina M. Raimondo, the proposal would provide $700 million for bridge and road projects through a revenue bond, to be repaid by the tolling. As approved by just one chamber, the Senate in 2015, a slightly smaller proposal would have raised $500 million.
Lawmakers returned to work on Jan. 5 with revisions in mind.
House Speaker Nicholas A. Mattiello, D-Cranston, has said he expects RhodeWorks will pass in some form this year. Last week he was advocating a form of funding that would shift the burden of repayment for the upfront needs from local tolls to annual federal funds for transportation.
The GARVEE program, or Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicle, is used by states to finance highway construction projects by borrowing against annual allocations of Federal Highway Administration funds.
In a statement, Mattiello said that financing mechanism represents a lower-risk alternative, and a lower cost, to providing the upfront funds for RhodeWorks, rather than using toll-backed revenue bonds. Mattiello still supports tolling, but not as the mechanism to cover the upfront bridge funds.
“My goal is to make our borrowing costs as low as possible so that more resources directly benefit our infrastructure and not the banks,” he said.
Part of the design of RhodeWorks provides for significant expenditures in the first years of the program, allowing the state to save money over the long term in maintenance, according to the state’s Department of Transportation.
“We need to take action now, because the longer we wait, the more expensive it will become to fix the problem,” said DOT Director Peter Alviti Jr., in a Jan. 5 letter to Assembly leaders.
The Rhode Island Trucking Association, which opposes the use of tolling for the bridge improvements, advocates instead a funding flow that would come from federal transportation sources, an increase in the diesel fuel tax and refinancing of existing GARVEE bonds, which would produce $300 million, according to spokesman Bill Fischer.
As for the argument that $500 million-plus is needed upfront for the first years of the program, Fischer said it is doubtful the DOT could effectively repair bridges that fast.
“The governor is making an argument that we need to do a ‘surge,’ ” Fischer said. “I don’t think we’re obligated to produce a plan that provides $560 million over the next five years.” •
