CTC E-Brief Banner 6

Decision-makers warned that reliance on current transportation funding methods will lead to disaster

 

Elected officials, business and civic leaders, community stakeholders and advocates get briefing on Rhode Island's transportation funding challenges and suggestions for reform 

 

Rhode Island's transportation system -- like those of other states -- is facing serious financing challenges that can't be addressed by current federal or state funding mechanisms, according to national and state transportation officials and experts that attended an April 6 transportation forum at the Rhode Island Convention Center co-sponsored by the CTC.

The forum, "A Wake-Up Call to Action: Rhode Island's Transportation Funding Crisis," was convened by Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee, Senate President M. Teresa Weed, and House Speaker Gordon D. Fox, and co-sponsored by the RI Department of Transportation and the URI Transportation Center. Scott Wolf of Grow Smart Rhode Island served as moderator.  

 

The panelists also presented several ideas and options that could help the state create more sustainable transportation funding. View a composite of PowerPoint presentations from the forum HERE.     

Photo: Ellie Leonardsmith.  

CTC Co-Chair Sheila Dormody presents the elements of a responsible transportation funding proposal that the CTC supports (S-148 / H-5789).  Listening on (from left to right) are fellow panelists John Simmons of RIPEC, former Maryland Governor Parris Glendening, former PENNDOT Secretary Allen Biehler and RIDOT Director Michael P. Lewis.  

 

 

Photo: Ellie Leonardsmith.  

Harvey Perry of Washington Trust asks a question during the forum. 


Panel members included RIDOT Director Michael P. Lewis; Jack

 
Click image to watch a2-minute news clip

Basso, COO at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials; Allen Biehler, former Pennsylvania transportation secretary and a past president of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO); Parris Glendening, former governor of Maryland and president of the Smart Growth America Leadership Institute; John Simmons, executive director of the The Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council; and Sheila Dormody, New England Director of Clean Water Action and co-chair of the CTC.

 

RIDOT Director Lewis pointed to the current trajectory of Rhode Island's transportation bonding, which is undermining the state's ability to perform routine maintenance and winter plowing. He explained that Rhode Island is at a precipice and must wean itself from biennial borrowing and adopt a more pay-as-you-go system for funding transportation.

 

RIDOT's current and future debt service projections if Rhode Island fails to develop a pay-as-you-go system for funding transportation

 


Underscoring Lewis's grim forecast of the federal government's ability to increase transportation funding, AASHTO's Jack Basso illustrated the current and projected deficit of the Federal Highway Trust Fund and the decreased purchasing power of the 18.4ยข federal gas tax that has remain unchanged since 1993. 

   The CTC is backing state legislation that would stabilize transportation funding and reduce the amount of borrowing the state must do for transportation projects. The Transportation Investment and Debt Reduction Act of 2011 (S-148 / H-5789) -- introduced by primary sponsors Senator Lou DiPalma, District 12 and Representative Jeremiah O'Grady, District 46 -- is now pending in the General Assembly.  It has been heard by the Senate Finance Committee and is awaiting a hearing by the House Finance Committee.

 

The Administration has also put forth a transportation funding proposal as Article 22 in the Governor's proposed budget. Click here to read CTC's Statement about the Administration's proposal.

 

CTC remains committed to collaborating with the administration to combine the best elements of each proposal into a unified approach that is best able to achieve and maintain a sustainable funding system and a 21st century transportation system that's so vital to Rhode Island's economy and environment.  
About the Coalition for Transportation Choices
The Coalition for Transportation Choices (CTC) calls for a 21st century transportation system that enhances our economy and provides all Rhode Islanders with healthy transportation choices.

Rhode Island's 21st century transportation system must provide all people - employees, tourists, youth, elderly, able and disabled - with safe and dependable access to their community's opportunities for work, education, services, and recreation. The system should be considerably less dependent on cars and fossil fuels as well as efficient, effective and easy to use. It should minimize impacts to land, water and air and improve the health and well-being of all Rhode Islanders. Such a system should be sustained with predictable and consistent funding for operation and future growth.
CTC's work is supported by the Rhode Island Foundation, The Prospect Hill Foundation and Third Sector New England's Capacity Building Fund

Coalition For

Transportation Choices Member Groups 
   

* AARP

* Amalgamated Transit Union

* American Lung Association in RI

* Apeiron Institute for Sustainable Living

* Aquidneck Island Planning Commission

* Audubon Society of Rhode Island

* Blackstone Valley Partnership

* Blackstone Valley Tourism Council

* Blueways Alliance

* Brown emPower

* Childhood Lead Action Project

* City-State, the Urban Design Lab at RISD

* Clean Water Action

* Conservation Law Foundation

* Cornish Associates

* DOT Watch

* East Coast Greenway Alliance

* Ecolect
* Environment Council of Rhode Island 

* Environmental Justice League of RI

* Farm Fresh Rhode Island

* Goodwill Industries

* Grow Smart RI

* Head of the Bay Gateway

* LISC-RI

* Narragansett Bay Estuary Program 

* Operating Engineers, Local 57

* Opportunities Unlimited, Inc.

* Pawtucket Foundation

* Providence Foundation

* Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau 
* The Providential Gardener 

* Recycle-A-Bike
* RI Association of Railroad Passengers

* Rhode Island Bicycle Coalition

* RICOSH

* RI Consulting Engineers (RICE) 

* RI Interfaith Power and Light 

* RI Land Trust Council

* RI Rehabilitation Council Transportation Consortium

* Rhode Island Student Climate Coalition  

* Save The Bay

* SEIU, District 1199

* Sierra Club

* U.S. Open Cycling

* Working Rhode Island

* Youth in Action