PROVIDENCE – More than two years after a judge ruled in favor of the trucking industry in halting the state’s controversial tolling program used for its RhodeWorks bridge initiative, a federal appeals court on Friday said the program can partially remain in place.
The RhodeWorks project, the state’s multibillion-dollar bridge renovation and reconstruction initiative that was launched in 2016 and funded by tolls collected from trucks, was ordered by U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith in September 2022
to stop collecting tolls. The ruling came four years after Virginia-based American Trucking Associations Inc. – which the Rhode Island Trucking Association is a member of – along with Cumberland Farms Inc., M&M Transport Services Inc. and New England Motor Freight Inc.,
filed a lawsuit against the R.I. Department of Transportation to block the truck tolls.
At the time, Smith ruled that the RhodeWorks project discriminates against tractor trailer trucks and “fails to fairly apportion” its tolls among bridge users “based on a fair approximation of their use of the bridges.” Smith also ruled that the tolling regime is unconstitutional, violating the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause, which provides that Congress has the power to regulate interstate and foreign commerce.
A month after that ruling, Gov. Daniel J. McKee's administration appealed the decision. On Friday, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals partially reversed that decision, saying the RhodeWorks projects “may go into effect … without offending the dormant Commerce Clause.” But the court also ruled that the caps on tolls for local traffic are unconstitutional.
The 52-page ruling states that a truck “cannot pay a toll more than once in each direction,” as well as not pay more than $40 per day and can’t pay more than $20 making single “through” trips from Connecticut to Massachusetts.
In so doing, it concluded that the collection of tolls from only tractor-trailers and the capping of the tolls "each caused the tolls to run afoul of the dormant Commerce Clause,” the ruling states. “We agree that the caps render the tolls unlawful but hold that the statute's application to only tractor trailers does not.”
The full ruling
can be read here.
In a statement, Attorney General Peter F. Neronha said Friday that then-Gov. Gina M. Raimondo made the decision that tolling trucks is “in the best interest of all Rhode Islanders” and “a necessary revenue source” to support repairs and upkeep of the state’s transportation system.
“Today, the First Circuit has held that, with the exception of caps on tolls, RhodeWorks is constitutional,” Neronha said. “We have been confident that this will be the eventual outcome, and we are grateful for the First Circuit’s well-reasoned decision in this case.”
Not all was pleased with the ruling. Rep. Brian C. Newberry, R-North Smithfield, posted Friday on X that the ruling was “worst case … for Rhode Island business and economy and thus residents.”
Former Republican state Rep. Blake Filippi posted Friday on X that the ruling would hurt in-state trucking.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on X at @James_Bessette.
