PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Construction interests and local government officials made the case Tuesday for House Speaker Gordon D. Fox and state General Treasurer Gina Raimondo's plan to create new state loan fund for local road and bridge repairs run by the Rhode Island Clean Water Finance Agency.
"The roads are definitely not going to get better on their own, and, in the next few years, things will get dire," Bristol Public Works Director James J. Galuska said at a House Finance Committee meeting.
Construction companies and building trades argued that the proposal would provide a needed boost to an industry still struggling with high unemployment.
But some House Finance Committee members voiced concerns about whether smaller communities would lose out to larger ones under the plan.