Eastbayri.com

PORTSMOUTH — Between them, Bob Obara and his wife make two to four round trips each day across the Mount Hope Bridge from their home close to the bridge’s Portsmouth side.

They get their groceries at Stop & Shop in Bristol, ride the bike path (”you’re not going to ride a bike in Portsmouth”) and are regular visitors to Bristol coffee shops and restaurants.

All that would change if the bridge gets tolls, Mr. Obara said at Thursday evening’s Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority (RITBA) public hearing at Portsmouth High School.

If they have to pay tolls, people like us won’t cross nearly as often “and that will hurt businesses” on both sides, he said. Only if people in neighboring towns are exempted would he support tolls on that bridge, Mr. Obara added to applause.

Coming off a Wednesday hearing in Bristol that featured nearly three hours of mostly anti-toll testimony, RITBA officials heard much of the same in Portsmouth Thursday.

Participants were greeted at the PHS auditorium by a video describing the benefits of “All-Electronic Tolling” as conducted on a Florida roadway. Vehicles pass beneath an arbor equipped with sensors that record the vehicle’s E-ZPass transponder or photograph the license plate. Those without E-ZPass are sent a bill.

“How about no toll?” one man asked as the video played. “That’s what we want.”

David Darlington, RITBA’s executive director, said reinstating tolls on the Mount Hope Bridge is but one option being considered to raise the money the Authority will need to properly maintain the two bridges it operates (the Newport-Pell Bridge is the other). He said several times that no decisions have been made but that the problem is real since RITBA, unlike the state Department of Transportation (DOT), has no access to state or federal tax dollars and faces immense maintenance bills.

Under the lead option put forth by consultant Jacobs Engineering, passenger cars with E-ZPass would pay 52 cents each way on the Mount Hope Bridge. Passenger cars with non-resident E-ZPass would pay $2.50 each way, and passenger cars without E-ZPass (license photographed and owner sent a bill) would pay $3.25 each way. Those rates would have to be revisited every three years, Mr. Darlington said. He added that any toll would need legislative approval since rules creating the authority forbids it from collecting tolls higher than 30 cents (10 cents with token).

Most who spoke said the bridge should remain toll free as it has been since those 30-cent tolls were removed in 1998.

Portsmouth town councilor James Seveney called it unbalanced and unfair that people in one part of the state must pay to cross bridges but most others do not.

“You people (RITBA) have done a great job but your job is over,” he said. “We should demand that DOT take over. We don’t need you any more.”

State Rep. Christopher Ottiano (R-Dist. 11, Portsmouth, Bristol) acknowledged that the problems facing the bridges are real but said there needs to be a search for a permanent funding solution such as having DOT take over.

Temporarily, “the best solution is a rate hike for the Newport Bridge,” he said.

Pointing to statistics shown by RITBA, Rep. Ottiano called the Newport Bridge a “gateway” bridge to the East Bay, the one used most by outside visitors. "This (the Mount Hope Bridge) is clearly a residential bridge.”

The state points with pride to Newport and East Bay tourist attractions and the Mount Hope Bridge, he said, “but when it’s time to pay for it, it’s ‘that bridge down in the East Bay — it’s up to them to pay for it.’”

Calling reinstatement of tolls “grossly unfair,” Rep. Raymond Gallison (D.-Dist. 69, Bristol, Portsmouth) urged a pennies hike in the gas tax, a method that would require everyone to contribute.

People who travel from East Providence to Providence don’t pay a toll on the Washington Bridge, nor do those who travel any other bridge in the state except here, he said.

Also unfair, though, argued two Jamestown residents, is having Newport Bridge users pay to maintain the Mount Hope Bridge.

“We don’t mind for one second that part of (our toll money) goes to the Mount Hope Bridge,” said Bruce Livingston. “Come on aboard — help us out.”

Donald Richards, also of Jamestown, said, “I resent paying a higher fee on the Newport Bridge so people on the Mount Hope Bridge can drive for free.”

But most said tolls here are a bad idea.

“Let’s have everyone pay for it,” said Tiverton’s Steven Clark who noted that there are no tolls on the state’s main routes such as 95, 195, and 295.

But he said “it scares me to death to turn this bridge over to the DOT ... In five years it will be sitting in that river.”

John King, vice president of student affairs at Roger Williams University, said that while area residents would be hardest hit, college students and the businesses they patronize, would suffer as well.

RWU has 240 students who live in the Bay Point dorm in Portsmouth. Being mostly out-of-staters, they, and staffers who commute from Massachusetts via the bridge, would face a $100 per month expense, Mr. King said.

And he cautioned that students would resist paying a toll to cross the bridge and shop in Portsmouth ... “We’d like students to use all of our merchants.”

Mr. King suggested that tolls instead be collected at the state’s entry points and noted that both bridges to Cape Cod are in great shape yet have no tolls (they are maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers, Mr. Darlington said).

Tiverton resident Joe Souza said he thinks the bridge “should be turned over to the state and our legislators should make sure that the DOT gets the money it needs.” The state has a spending problem, not a revenue problem, he said.

Bristol shop owner Linda Arruda called the bridge “an economic business lifeline for these communities” and said she fears the impact of tolls on businesses that are already struggling.

Of the all-electronic tolling video that showed cars zipping through with no traffic tie-ups, “The visuals are wonderful but they are in Dade County Florida” on a multi-lane highway.

RITBA has scheduled two more hearings, one on Oct. 17 at the Jamestown Library, and the other on Oct. 18 at the Newport Marriott, both at 7 p.m.