The Providence Journal / Steve Szydlowski
Traffic moves under the Providence Viaduct ,south over Promenade and behind Providence Place Mall. See the photo gallery.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Rhode Island has a complex, interlocking transportation system that is a key part of its economy and of the much bigger Northeast Corridor. On the whole, it works rather well.
But for years, although the Department of Transportation's slogan was "fix it first," roads cracked and steel-reinforced concrete bridges deteriorated to the point that they have had to be replaced or held up with wooden cribbing. The bridges' condition is among the worst in the nation.
The lack of upkeep wasn't willful. State officials responsible for the bridges and highways are predominantly engineers who say they would prefer to make repairs. The trouble, they say, is money.
State and federal funding gives the DOT about $350 million per year for its bridge and highway programs. In 2008, a governor's blue ribbon panel concluded that the state needs to spend about $285 million more than that per year for a decade, or an extra $2.8 billion, to bring its roads and bridges up to par. Within the state part of this year's budget, "infrastructure maintenance" amounts to just $44 million.
Having already borrowed hundreds of millions to build new roads and bridges, the state government would have had to raise taxes, impose tolls, or adopt some other politically hazardous strategy. Tolls proposed to maintain the new Sakonnet River Bridge are being hotly opposed by the bridge's users and nearby businesses.
Much of the transportation system has stayed in bad condition or gotten worse.