The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) says that they are gearing up to start building new toll gantries in 2019 as the next phase of the state’s controversial truck-only tolling program.
On Thursday, December 20, RIDOT announced that they received approval from the federal government to start start construction on ten new toll gantries. There are already two truck tolling gantries functioning in the state of Rhode Island.
The first new tolling location is expected to be up and running by May of 2019. All ten tolling gantries are scheduled to be completed by May of 2020. They will be installed along I-95, I-195, I-295, US Route 6, and RI Route 146.
You can view the toll gantry locations in the map below.
The new toll gantries are part of the controversial Rhodeworks program, which tolls only commercial vehicles in order to fund infrastructure repairs in the state. The American Trucking Associations (ATA) has filed suit against Rhode Island for the truck-only tolls, arguing that they are unconstitutional.
Since the first two toll gantries opened for business along I-95 between Hopkinton and Exeter on June 11, 2018, RIDOT has tolled 1,120,190 trucks to the tune of $3,706,836.
Through many truck drivers have vowed to go out of their way to avoid the tolls, RIDOT said that “there has been no diversion from the routes as a result of tolling at locations 1 and 2.”