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Health & Fitness

Senator Ottiano and Representative Edwards Discuss Toll Commission Activity on PTW

Portsmouth State Senator Chris Ottiano and Representative Jay Edwards were my guests on last week's Portsmouth this Week, discussing their impressions as members of the nine-member toll commission known formally as the "Special Legislative Commission on Infrastructure Funding." The commission held its first meeting last Thursday and at issue here is whether or not the state will use tolls on the Sakonett River bridge to pay for bridge maintenance throughout the state or whether some other, more rational, sources of funding can be developed. Both of our State representatives felt confident that the latter can be done and that the interests of the East Bay will be taken into account when the Commission reports back to the General Assembly on January 15th, 2014.

Representative Edwards indicated that less than 6% of the bridges in RI that have maintenance problems are in Newport County, while almost 63% are in Providence. Both agreed that the local economic impact of tolls on the Sakonett River bridge to fund the entire state's maintenance issues would be unfair to East Bay residents and noted that while it would be difficult to accurately calculate the economic costs of tolling two out of three bridges connecting Aquidneck Island to the mainland, a major economic impact study has yet to be done. 

This program airs on Public Access TV (Cox Channel 18) on  Wednesday at 7:30 PM and other times but can also be watched by clicking on this link: http://youtu.be/KhDm7lAxJAM.


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