JAMESTOWN – The R.I. Turnpike and Bridge Authority said Thursday it plans to borrow $50 million this month to pay for maintenance and repair work on the Newport Pell and Mount Hope bridges.
The money will pay for a portion of the $124 million five-year maintenance plan the authority’s board approved last September to extend the life of both bridges. The General Assembly signed off on the borrowing last year.
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The Series 2010 A toll-revenue bonds will be offered the week of March 29 to individual and institutional investors. The bonds are rated A by Fitch Ratings and A- by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service, according to the authority.
“These are investment-grade ratings, and we hope investors will express their confidence in us by purchasing them,” David Darlington, the authority’s chairman, said in a statement.
The quasi-public agency said the offering would be its first issuance in seven years. The bond sale’s underwriters are Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC and Morgan Stanley.
The bridge authority plans to borrow an additional $50 million in 2011 or 2012 to fund the repair plan. The agency’s debt totaled $29.3 million as of June 30, according to financial documents.
The General Assembly created the Turnpike and Bridge Authority in 1954 to oversee the state’s bridges. Its five-member board is appointed by the governor.
The Mount Hope Bridge opened in 1929, while the Newport Pell Bridge opened in 1969. Darlington said the bridges “are beautiful icons of the state and people can now have the opportunity to personally invest in the upkeep of these bridges and ensure their safety for the next generation.”
Last September, the authority doubled to $4 the cash toll for cars crossing the Pell Bridge – the first increase since the bridge had opened four decades earlier.
Tolls were removed from the Mount Hope Bridge in 1998, but the authority is now considering putting them back in.
Gov. Donald L. Carcieri has proposed charging a $4 toll on cars crossing the new Sakonnet River Bridge, which is expected to be completed in 2012, and transferring responsibility for the span to the Bridge and Turnpike Authority from the R.I. Department of Transportation.
Additional information is available at ritba.org.
