RIDOT Issues RFP for Truck Tolling Program Contractor

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) announced it has initiated
a request for proposals (RFP) process to solicit proposals from firms to design,
build, operate and maintain all electronic tolling facilities for Rhode Island’s
truck-only tolling program in accordance with the RhodeWorks legislation.
This competitive process seeks a firm to design and build the tolling facilities
and associated infrastructure to fund the reconstruction of deficient bridges
throughout
Rhode Island. The selected firm also will be required to operate and maintain the
toll facilities to ensure they function properly.
The tolling locations throughout Rhode Island will feature all-electronic tolling,
and only large commercial trucks will be charged a toll. There will be no toll booths
and no stopping to pay tolls. No passenger vehicles will be tolled.
«Rhode Island has the worst bridges in America. While tolling revenues will provide
approximately 10% of RIDOT’s overall funding, it is a vital component that allows
us to fast track bringing the state’s bridges into a state of good repair within
ten years,» said RIDOT director Peter Alviti, Jr.
In October 2016, RIDOT executed 13 Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with the Federal
Highway Administration (FHWA), one for each tolling location on both state bridges
and interstate bridges. In the MOUs, the FHWA «hereby agrees that the Toll Project
meets the toll eligibility requirements of 23 U.S.C. 129 (a) (1)», the applicable
federal law. A 14th MOU for the Providence Viaduct will be executed once the existing
environmental mitigation requirements for the project are satisfied.
The truck-only tolling was signed into law by Governor Raimondo on February 11,
2016 with the passage of the Rhode Island Bridge Replacement, Reconstruction and
Maintenance Fund Act, better known as «RhodeWorks». Through RhodeWorks, RIDOT is
authorized to toll large commercial trucks in order to fund, in part, the replacement
or reconstruction of bridges throughout the state.
With this program, Rhode Island joins eight other states from Maryland to Maine
that toll for the purpose of funding infrastructure. Rhode Island will also become
the second state in the union to implement a tolling program only on large commercial
trucks. The New York Thruway Authority operates a large commercial vehicle only
tolling location at its Spring Valley toll plaza. A GAO report to Congress indicated
that one fully loaded tractor trailer can do the equivalent damage of 9,600 cars.
RIDOT expects to award a contract in Spring 2017. Construction of the tolling
facilities
will take approximately a year and half to build, reaching completion by the end
of 2018.