Truckers, lawmakers, local leaders, and others involved in transportation rallied together on Tuesday at a TravelCenters truck stop on Route 102 in Rhode Island. Together they voiced their opposition to the controversial truck-only tolls that will be coming to the state and could lead to such tolls being implemented nationwide.
Organized by the Rhode Island Trucking Association, the rally featured speakers like Chris Maxwell, the President of RITA; Lisa Mullings, President and CEO of NATSO; and local representatives including members of the General Assembly who voted against the implementation of the RhodeWorks plan that is creating the new tolls.
“The trucking industry and related entities – including truckstops and travel centers – will suffer greatly from a discriminatory truck-only toll,” Maxwell said during his speech.
This echoes the sentiments of some of our readers here at TruckersReport who have stated their intention to just bypass Rhode Island entirely if the tolls are implemented. This would put a huge dent in the state’s tax revenue from truck stops, travel centers, restaurants, and any other business that a passing trucker might stop at.
But Rhode Island will always need trucks, and everything a truck brings will be more expensive for residents when that truck is tolled.
“Businesses will be forced to increase prices for goods sold, residents stand to lose jobs if businesses falter,” said Mullings. “Towns and communities will lose millions in tax revenues used to support schools, fire departments and other public services.”
Mullings also warns that this will not be an isolated policy if it is allowed to move forward, saying “this deplorable economic disruption will replicate across the country as other states seek to follow in Rhode Island’s footsteps.”
Source: providencejournal, prnewswire, wpri, providencejournal, turnto10, abc6
Ronald agee says
These tolls are solely about control and have nothing to do with roads. They say road repair then they should have a seperate account for these toll dollars to go into and if it gets used for anything other then road repair they should face jail time for fraud. We are being taxed for every gallon of fuel we buy and every mile that we drive and now the tolls where is the representation of the driver. We are not represented or respected these days. I for one don’t care to go to Rhode Island as I saw things there that scare me to death. Their is a bridge held up by jacks and timber where concrete used to be its horrible. They have squandered the tax dollars that should have went to repair the roads and now want to do the same with the extra money they can make for tolls. Charge the cars at a lower rate. Any vehicle that drives on a road causes damage to the surface including plows. Plows do more damage then semis do.
WuzNtMe says
It’s just an end-run around the individual taxpayer. It’s easier to make everyone pay more taxes by placing tolls on the companies that deliver every single thing every taxpayer consumes than it is to raise taxes on all the items themselves. This way the cost gets passed down to everyone but get’s taken out upstream and eventually the blame falls on truck driving, and eventually fossil fuels and !!EVIL BIG OIL!!
Charles Smith says
The concrete for that bridge is bad because no doubt Cardi Const got paid to use the bad stuff. The whole damn state is crooked. The money collected from the tolls will go to the general fund. The definition of general fund is a “political pocket or hand.” It’s been that way for years and years. Now it has caught up with them. Glad I got out.
Cherokee says
It’s not about safe roads.
It’s not about road repairs.
It’s not about bridge repairs.
I choose where I go and what I haul and the northeast because of the tolls and everyone lowballing rates along with Agents/Booker’s thinking their doing you a favor just to get you out of the area up there with low rates while they pocket sometimes over 50% of the total. Not me you all can have it, they get hungry and thirsty enough they’ll change. But of course that’ll never happen when the uneducated are being fooled into driving for lower than minimum wage.
Anon E. Mouse says
Here’s an idea. Organize a bunch of willing CDL holders, fix as many worthless ratty old rigs with just enough repairs/paperwork under a dummy company to let them roll on the highway, pull them all up to the toll booth, and park. Block the entire highway for however long it takes for them to be towed away. Stack about 40-50 worthless old rigs across every lane but one on both sides of the highway (don’t block the right lane or shoulder, emergency response needs a pathway). The drivers would need to be willing to face arrest/prosecution/etc.
Another idea along those same lines is organize a huge convoy to roll at exactly the minimum speed limit in all lanes, again making sure to allow for emergency response vehicle passage.
Lester Molina says
Anon E. Mouse — I agree with you 100% . what is the speed limit 65/75 or what ever is up there and at just 25 /30 mph on the state and let the traffic back up for miles and miles when that happened and a senator or a congressman be stopped on traffic the will remove the tolls only —— on a different idea if (WE) have to pay a toll only for trucks so then let ous have the complete left lane ( trucks only ) we are paying to drive on that state
Katie Johnson says
Someone in trucking needs to educate these politicians on math. Pounds per square inch of rubber on the road an 80,000 pound truck actually puts less stress on the roadway than most cars
Keiler says
Lol I just love these great ideas to protest for the money that would be lost to the tolls.
What about all the other money we’ve been losing, and will continue to lose and the freedom and all the extra hassle that this useless criminal racket of so called government agencies are putting us through with the electronic logbooks (or let’s be real, the flawed hours of service) that the paper logs let us circumvent to make the hours work for us individually… Now the thought of speed limiters when companies alrwady limit us etc.. where’s the outrage on the real issues? Come on people…
Andrew H says
Paying to park our truck to sleep at night is becoming more common, guess why not pay to drive our trucks!
So glad I went LTL.