RITBA backs toll hike on Pell Bridge
Published: July 8, 2009
The Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority is a step closer to raising tolls on one bridge and reinstating tolls on another.
The agency on Wednesday voted in favor of increasing tolls on the Pell Bridge and restoring tolls on the Mount Hope Bridge.
Related Link: Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority
The agency will hold public hearings on the proposal.
One hearing will be held at 7 p.m. on July 14 at the Community College of Rhode Island’s Newport campus. A second hearing is set for 7 p.m., July 21, in the Jamestown Town Council chambers.
A study by RITBA’s consultants said the cost of repairs over the next 20 years would leave the agency with a $223 million shortfall.
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Reader Reactions
Hey rear end—stop talking out of yours. If you’re an out of stater it doesn’t make any difference, the toll will be $4.00—even if you ‘buy’ a RI EZ Pass. RI residents will have no loll increases imposed—they’ll still only pay $0.83 per trip with an EZ Pass. But everybody else—even if you have an out of state EZ Pass—will be paying $4.00. THATS what most of the complaints are about.
OK so…are we really going to be complaining about a $2.00 hike. How abut QUIT the crying and just go get an Ez-pass. Or is it just that you are just to lazy to take 30 mins out of your day to save money? I know im glad that i bought my EZ-PASS. I save money its less then the $2.00 i would have to be paying. All I know is for the bridge to be raising thre tolls. Honestly…..its about time. It’s a 40 YEAR OLD BRIDGE. And in those 40 years it has NEVER gone up. So maybe take that in…I mean…it could be bad like the N.Y bridge that is at Hmm. $10.00 and that is fr a car. I mean if you take into fact that with cost of living and with everything else going up. Why not let them. I mean its not like all the money is goin to on bridge. All these complaints are just as bad as the whole “gate” issue. Which look tha didn’t get anyone any where now di it? So in my ast words to this. STOP YOUR CRYING!! and get an EZ-PASSi did :D
camper gal…. anyone can buy a RI transponder, true. But if you do not have a RI address you do not qualify for the discount. I had to show my license, registration, and sign over my first born to get the discriminatory discount.
No, not quite. If you don’t have a RI address its going to cost you $4.00 a pop period—whether you ‘buy’ a RI transponder or not. And why should I buy one when I already have one? You’re right, it’s not discrimination, but it’s still unfair to the people who use the Pell bridge on a regular basis.
This will be challenged—by someone—and the law that prevents charging non residents more than residents will be sited. If using a transponder, we’ll ALL be paying $4.00—or 83 cents. The law is the law.
I live in Portsmouth and travel across the Pell Bridge almost everyday using my E-Z pass @ $.83 a trip.I travel with the relief of knowing how well this bridge is maintained.I say enroll in E-Z Pass, cross the bridge, and enjoy the view. It’s absolutely beautiful!! As with gas prices soaring and the tax on cigarettes high, only to mention a few, why not a toll hike. I’ts the first hike since the structure was built 40 years ago. It’s about time!
As for Out-of-State visitors, you have the same advantage as we do. There is no discrimination. Buy a R.I.
transponder, which by the way is good pretty much up and down the Eastern Seaboard, and you too can enjoy the discounted benefit that we do. No need to fret over a toll hike. End of Story.
Just get an Ez-pass and quit your crying…And if you are from out of state…Then sue the state. As I have stated before the in-state discout violates the state constitution. By discriminating based upon geographical location. Ask the town of North Knigstown, they got sued for this already because they would not give elderly tax credits unless they lived in NK for the last five years.
I’m surprised that the towns of Aquidneck Island aren’t up in arms about this—after all, they’re the ones who are going to suffer because of it. The Pell bridge and the Mt. Hope bridge are two of the three routes onto that island, and to put tolls back onto the Mt. Hope is like taxing the revenues of those communities.
I live in Tiverton and wrote a letter to the DOT when they were contemplating a toll on the new Sakonnet Bridge. Funny how our tax dollars built a new GW Bridge in Providence but wanted to place a toll on the new bridge in Tiverton; guess there wasn’t enough money left over for little old Tiverton! Hopefully Cardi Corp. will be smart enough to use rusted metal in their construction so we won’t have to pay to get it painted every year like the Pell bridge.
Let em’ do it—and they’ll see how much traffic that may well take the southern route will now use 95 to 195 and bypass the Pell bridge altogether. The same with the Mount Hope.
Those people better get with it and build that new Sakonnet River bridge—they’re going to need it!
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