I hope the petition will be effective. I am a Portsmouth resident, and have never complained about the Pell bridge toll....until I bought a camper. As a Rhode Island resident, you receive the discounted toll price to cross the bridge......that is until you hitch ANYTHING to the back of your vehicle. Not only do I have to pay $4 for my camper I tow, I no longer receive the discount for my vehicle I tow it with. So, that is $8 EACH WAY to cross the Pell Bridge. Considering we go camping OFF Aquidneck Island, we have to pay this every time we leave home. I assume that this will be the same if tolls are placed on the Sakonnet Bridge. I've called many times to ask why I no longer receive the discount, and I am always told that once you have more than 2 axles, you do not receive a discount any longer. This must be financially difficult for any person who has a work vehicle with more than 2 axles and uses the bridge for work.

It's not going to do any good. Everyone in the State House knows that they are going to get re-elected. Plus they don't really care what the population thinks. The State Reps are going to do whatever they want for themselves & their cronies & that's all that matters to them. End of story. Just look at the Veterans Home. Except for one all of the administrators in Veteran Affairs which includes the Vets Home & cemetery are all the same politically connected cronies that were investigated in 2007/2008 for everything from misuse of authority & funds to various forms of harassment. There was a huge uproar over what was uncovered but none of it mattered at all.

Let's not forget that this State has one of the highest gas taxes in the country. The Federal Gas tax was created to get tolls off the high ways. It was considered a fair way to fund road construction and maintenance with the local gas tax included. The problem is our legislature has taken that tax and used it in other areas of the budget. They're funding free and reduced bus rides across the state. They fund social welfare programs to the tune of 3.4 billion . The real problem is the legislature doesn't no how to prioritize spending. You can't give free bus rides while the bridges are falling down. The mismanagement continues this year with an even bigger budget .8 billion dollars in a state with less then one million people. Till we fix the DOT, which has been sued several times, costing the State three quarter of a billion because of mismanagement on projects. Fix the social welfare budget. We will continue to have problems. Our legislature only knows how to raise taxes .We need to teach them how to cut them. Fund and fix DOT, Take the MT Hope bridge and place it under DOT authority That will solve the RITBA problem of funding. Tell Governor Gump go to hell!

I don't think we need to cut anything. I feel what needs to be done is to see how the money we already have is spent on & on whom & adjust that. I mean do we really need all of the "desk jockey's we have on the payroll? I'll bet if an co-worker was asked what any of them do they won't know. These people are some of the politically connected cronies I spoke of before. How much money does the stte spend on office space every year? How much are all of the vendor contracts covering services from food service to maintenance of all kinds really costing the state on a yearly basis? And how many of them are on some politico's speed dial? Hhmm? Let's look at All of these things & more I haven't mentioned before we start putting people into poverty or deeper into it than they already are because of the ever rising Cost of Living in this state which includes the taxes mentioned and everything else you use your paycheck on or gets deducted out of it for.

Let's make the toll at least $5. The only way to get this state going is to raise as much revenue as possible. People will complain of course, but they won't really change. They will continue to cross the bridge daily.

The feds still have to sign off on a toll yet, some funds were federal and they have to have an impact study on what the tolls could do (environmental ) i think. They (RITBA) may well now own the bridge and will probably rip us off with tolls but, it would be nice if they got porked instead of us. This is not over yet so lets keep fighting!

I think Theresa Paiva Reed and Mr. Depalma may well regret the day they sold out the rest of Newport County with there yes votes for the toll. I am sure visitors count to Newport and Middletown will drop along with revenue.

By the way, we already got "porked" by RIDOT and the state government by their inattention to the original bridge causing its erosion and ultimately being replaced.
Why do you petition-signers think this wouldn't happen again if funds aren't raised to maintain the bridge? Of course no one wants to pay a new toll, but the money has to come from somewhere. The old plan, whatever that was, failed us and can't be repeated. I guess you just want the tolls raised on the Pell bridge because you rarely drive over it anyway.

Providence Journal...impact study is now different than original because of tolls...

What I want is the residents of this island not to have to pay for the entire State if Disrepair! I do not want a seperate "tax" levied on Newport County . I want responsible goverment ....

What will T. Paiva Reed regret, the drop in revenue to Newport from tourist dollars as people will visit other places to spend there dollars

You are contradicting yourself: on one hand you say you don't think AI residents should payi for the state infrastructure, but you want the rest of the state to pay for AI infrastructure that many won't ever use.
And the argument that people would stop coming to Newport if a toll were added is pure hyperbole. It would deter a small percentage, but not to the extent you and others claim. Look at the Pell toll increase (2x the longtime $2 cost) and show us how that had an effect on tourism.

You are angry, we get it., but you need to offer valid solutions to build your argument and have any hope of having any effect.
The toll will come people, the fight should be to minimize the price.

Get the officials names of all in favor of the tolls and make billboards on both sides of the bridge listing them and how many more days until they are out of office. Faces need to be attached to this. Then you eliminate these folks by voting em out. Remember they only have jobs and this power because you voted them in, so vote them out!

If the RIBTA and the State go ahead with the toll on the Sakonnet River Bridge, We the people of Aquidneck Island and Newport County should file suit against the State Of Rhode Island and seek an immediate court injunction to stop the toll for Unfair taxes and discrimination. I feel this toll is uncontitutional and illegal based on southern Rhode Island residents paying a higher tax rate than central and northern Rhode Island communities.