To repair Rhode Island roads, report calls for new tolls, taxes and higher fees

Bruce Landis
Projo.com
December 5, 2008

PROVIDENCE — Driving your car may take on a new and larger meaning — for your wallet.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

To fix its crumbling roads and bridges and rescue the state’s financially challenged public transit system, a draft report made public yesterday says the state should consider charging tolls at the state line on every interstate highway and creating a new tax for each mile a vehicle is driven.

The report calls for tolls on a new Sakonnet River Bridge, increasing the state gas tax and a long list of other things related to using the roads. One proposed tax would apply to anything made from petroleum, from paint to detergent to plastics.

The proposals would mean a drastic shift in the way the state finances transportation — away from borrowing and near-complete reliance on federal money — toward spending more by using money raised through taxes and fees.

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