GA leaders urge business community to support RhodeWorks plan

PROVIDENCE – Leaders of the General Assembly, who have embraced a less expensive version of the RhodeWorks bridge and overpass reconstruction plan, appealed to business leaders Wednesday to support it as an economic investment.

In statements made at the annual legislative luncheon organized by the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, both House Speaker Nicholas A. Mattiello, D-Cranston, and Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Newport, said the plan has been improved, through the downscaling of toll locations, and will help the state’s economy.

“There are different types of economic investment that we continue to make as a state,” said Paiva Weed. “This investment in RhodeWorks is an investment in the economy. It’s an investment in public safety. Right now, the condition of our bridges is unsafe. It’s an investment in our future.”

“Stand together with us,” she said. “In the long term, it will make Rhode Island grow.”

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Several hundred representatives of Rhode Island corporations and small to mid-sized businesses attended the luncheon, which featured a keynote address by John E. Taylor Jr., chairman of the board of directors of Twin River Casino.

In his comments, he explained that Twin River is preparing for a statewide and local referendum for the proposed Tiverton casino, which he said would compete favorably with Massachusetts gaming.

“Even in the most challenging Massachusetts environment, it is projected to [generate] more money, nearly double for the state, than what Newport Grand presently does.” Newport Grand now produces $27 million annually in state revenue, he said, but its survival is threatened by the emergence of resort casinos in the Bay State.

Paiva Weed and Mattiello addressed RhodeWorks as the General Assembly prepares to review the revised legislation that would authorize tolls on heavy trucks. The plan, expected to be reviewed beginning this week, reduces the amount of borrowing for the infrastructure program and lowers the number of tolling locations from 17 to 14.

Mattiello argued that Rhode Island will be the outlier, in that it is the only state in the Northeast corridor that doesn’t toll heavy trucks. Connecticut will do so next year, he said. As a result, the cost to transport goods sold here is affected by tolling policies in all other states.

“Some people are going to say the sky is going to fall and you’re going to double the cost of all your goods. Don’t believe it. It’s ridiculous,” he said. “If you’re buying goods in Rhode Island, you’re contributing to the infrastructure of every state that truck has come through to come to Rhode Island.”

The revised plan would replace the original financing proposal, of $600 million in toll-backed revenue bonds, with $300 million in bonds backed by federal transportation dollars as well as bonds backed by tolling.

The plan continues to generate opposition. In an initial statement, the Rhode Island Trucking Association said it remains fundamentally opposed to tolling.

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