PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A 134-year-old atlas from the horse-and-buggy era has added more drama to Rhode Island’s debate over installing truck tolls to pay for road and bridge repairs.
A top Republican lawmaker said Wednesday she is upset that the administration of Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo sent her 19th century maps of Providence in response to a public records request for information about the governor’s 10-year public works plan.
State Rep. Patricia Morgan said she was denied most of the information she wanted, including the proposed locations of highway truck toll gantries and the local roads that state officials believe truckers might use to avoid them.
“But they will give us a map from 1882 which has absolutely no bearing on today. It’s ludicrous,” said the West Warwick Republican in an interview Wednesday.
A spokeswoman for Raimondo said state officials will reveal preliminary gantry sites as soon as they work out the final details of the plan, which is being adjusted to account for a new source of federal funding.
Scanned copies of the 19th century atlas were included in a box of documents provided to Morgan this month because they had been attached to an email sent by the state’s chief civil engineer in the fall.
“It is fascinating to see the old layout of Providence pre-highways,” the engineer wrote to his colleagues at the state Department of Transportation. He said it would be a “good exercise” to overlay a proposed interchange project on the old maps but noted it was not a priority.
State lawmakers from both parties have been demanding more detailed information about the massive public works plan and how it will be funded before they take it up in the new legislative session that begins next week.
“People want to know: Are trucks going to be driving in our residential neighborhoods to avoid a toll? That’s a huge issue,” said Brandon Bell, chairman of the Rhode Island Republican Party.
Raimondo early this year proposed the tolls instead of higher taxes to finance a $500 million revenue bond for bridge repair. The state Senate endorsed that plan in the last legislative session but the House did not.
Democratic House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello told WJAR-TV on Wednesday that he has seen a map of potential toll sites that he wants the governor to make public. He also said he supports the idea of tolling trucks but doesn’t want the state to also borrow money for the road projects.
