The Rhode Island Trucking Association said Monday it is filing an open record request to learn additional details about Governor Gina Raimondo’s controversial truck-toll proposal, after previous requests for the information went unanswered.
“From the very beginning of this process we have continually called on the administration to release more information related to their tolling plan,” Christopher Maxwell, president of the Trucking Association, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, those repeated requests have been ignored and it has forced us to file a public records request so that our members and all Rhode Island businesses can truly understand the impact of RhodeWorks.”
The association’s open records request, dated Monday, seeks a statewide map “with specific locations of all proposed toll gantries for the RhodeWorks program;” the full level 2 traffic collection report done by CDM Smith and the state Department of Transportation; the tolling locations used to prepare studies by REMI and CDM Smith; all written and electronic communication between RIDOT and the governor’s office related to tolls and bridges for RhodeWorks; and all correspondence, written and electronic, between RIDOT and the Federal Highway Administration concerning a federal tolling exemption.
Asked for comment, Raimondo spokeswoman Marie Aberger said the open-records request will be reviewed and addressed by the agency that received it — the state Department of Transportation. The administration has previously said the precise locations for proposed gantries have not yet been selected.
The House of Representatives is expected to take up Raimondo’s truck-toll plan in the new session starting in January.
Raimondo has defended the plan as necessary to fix bridges rated among the worst in the nation. The state Senate approved RhodeWorks in the last legislative session, although the proposal died after not being taken up in the House.
Critics have said the plan includes too much borrowing and too many unanswered questions.
“We do not want to have a combative relationship with the governor and we have put fiscal solutions on the table to address the condition of Rhode Island’s roads and bridges,” Maxwell said. “Let’s get this information into the public domain so this entire process is more transparent and lawmakers will have a greater understanding of what they are voting on.”
This post has been updated.