BY JIM BARON

PROVIDENCE — The structural concerns that prompted the state to reduce the weight limit on Route 95’s Pawtucket River Bridge are “just the tip of the iceberg” of an “aging and deteriorating” transportation infrastructure, Gov. Donald Carcieri warned Wednesday.

Rhode Island’s interstate highways and bridges, many built in the 1950s and 60s, are nearing the end of their useful lives, Carcieri and outgoing DOT Director Jerry Williams told a Statehouse news conference; and not only is the state well short of the money needed for the repairs and replacement, the federal government may be poised to decrease the money that goes to states for that purpose.
“All of theses bridges and highways, but particularly the bridges, are aging rapidly,” Carcieri said. “Our transportation needs far outweigh our available resources. Ensuring that we have a 21st century transportation system is obviously crucial to our ongoing efforts to fuel our economy and enhance the quality of life here in our state.”
Strenuously avoiding use of the T-word, tolls, preferring instead to use the term “user fees” which he said could include such things as assessments on trucking companies, Carcieri cautioned that “unless we take measures now” up to $600 million in highway projects the state has committed to over the next five years might have to be delayed.
“Rhode Island is at a critical juncture,” Williams said. “We need to fund our critical projects and we need to fund them soon. Just for our highest-priority projects, we have a shortfall over the next five years of over $210 million. We have to be able to make that up; we have to be able to fund the critical projects we have.”
He said the panel will review “who is paying for the infrastructure now and who is not paying for it. We have done a study outside of the urban area to see who is traveling on our highway system and almost 80 percent of the vehicles between Exits 1 and 2 (on Route 95) are all out-of-state. If they don’t pass by and purchase gas within our state, they are using our infrastructure and not paying for it.”
In Rhode Island and at the federal level, one of the sources of revenue for highway construction funds is the gasoline tax. But, Carcieri said, “the federal and state gasoline tax is not indexed to inflation – the yields have failed to keep up with the increased cost.
“The gas tax is capping out as people are getting more conscious about fuel conservation,” he said, “the price of gas is rising, but the tax revenue is not. This is not a dependable source of revenue going forward for the kind of financing we have to do to repair the infrastructure.”
While construction costs have increased by about 40 percent between 2001 and 2007, Carcieri said, the per-penny yield from the gas tax has remained constant.
The governor and Williams also worry that there could be a deficit in the federal highway trust fund by next year. If that happens, Carcieri said, Rhode Island could see a loss of 30 to 40 percent of its federal transportation funding, which translates to about $60 to $70 million a year.
“If the gas tax isn’t going to work, then what’s happening,” Carcieri asked rhetorically. “There’s user fees, there’s a lot of talk around the country about private-public partnerships – that’s been happening where parts of the infrastructure of some states are being financed privately.
“Everything is on the table,” Carcieri said. “I don’t want to pre-judge the recommendations” of the committee.

In response, Carcieri has established a 12-member Blue Ribbon Panel to study the prospects for the next five year transportation funding over that timeframe and report back to the governor in six months. He said the group will be assigned to investigate the state’s aging transportation infrastructure, the significant number of priority one projects that are needed to maintain the infrastructure and the available funding or lack thereof to accommodate Rhode Island’s needs.  The group will also explore the extent of federal funding and the prognosis of future funding given the current condition of the Federal Highway Trust Fund.  Finally, the panel will assess options for future funding at the state level to either make up some of the decreased federal funding or provide a larger match if federal funding is increased. 
DOT staff will support the group and will continue to reach out to both Federal Highway and the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) for the latest information associated with this important financing issue, Williams said, adding that the group will be holding public hearing to solicit ideas from the general public.
Members of the 12-person panel include:  DOT’s Williams; Lloyd Albert, AAA; Bob Cusack, a local investment professional; John Gregory, Northern RI Chamber of Commerce; Maureen Gurghigian, First SW Securities; Michael Lewis, incoming DOT director; Peter Osborn, FHWA; Gary Sasse, Dept. of Revenue; Bill Sequino, East Greenwich Town Manager; John Simmons, RIPEC; Keith Stokes, Newport Chamber of Commerce; and Robert Weygand, URI.