NMA Rhode Island and Connecticut Alert: New Toll Road Planned
With the blessing of Governor Lincoln Chafee, the Rhode Island DOT is seeking federal authority to convert Interstate 95 into a toll road at the Connecticut border.
Truck drivers, among others, are adamantly opposed to such a plan. “Tolls are taxes, and paying both tolls and fuel taxes amounts to double taxation,” Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) leadership states in its list of highway funding principles. (See the Landline story here.)
The National Motorists Association fully agrees with the truckers in opposing this and other toll roads. As NMA President James Baxter has opined in the Wisconsin State Journal, "Toll roads are an inefficient, backwards approach to providing public highways. Worse, they foster corruption, political patronage, and discourage needed improvements on the rest of the highway system." (See Baxter's piece and other arguments against tolling here.)
We encourage interested Rhode Island and Connecticut residents to contact state representatives and Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee to register your opinion of the DOT's plan.
