Eastbayri.com

Rhode Island can ill afford to cut off a county and its tourist attractions with bridge tolls, a fact that finally seems to have hit home upstate.

Last week’s state intervention in the bridge toll mess is the only encouraging news on that front yet.

The Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority had planned to vote Wednesday on raising Newport Pell Bridge tolls to $5 each way and to set the wheels in motion to restore tolls to the Mount Hope Bridge.

As suspected, earlier public hearings were mostly window dressing. A parade of speakers said that the only sure payout from a toll booth at every entry would be isolation and stagnation. As RITBA itself acknowledged, the Mount Hope Bridge is a local commuting bridge. Industries would think twice about investing in a place divided by tolls from everyplace else. Suppliers of everything from milk to fuel oil would hike prices to cover costs. And businesses would suffer; with tolls in the way, how many people will drive over to Portsmouth for a clamcake at Flo’s — or off-island to dinner in Tiverton or Westport.

Yet it seems no amount of testimony was going to change minds that had fixed tolls as the answer (they even showed videos promoting the favored tolling method).

Then last Wednesday the state stepped in and the vote was postponed. Governor Chafee’s administration, it was announced, is studying new strategies to pay the high costs of maintaining the two bridges. These may include tolls on Route 95 at the Connecticut line, higher car registration fees and another penny or two on the fuel tax.

None of these options will be popular but they do have fairness on their side.

Taxpayers here have supported no end of bridge and highway jobs elsewhere in the state, from the Jamestown Bridge to the Providence Mall interchange, Pawtucket bridge and the I-Way. Why should the rest of the state not support bridges here? Why are there tolls nowhere but here?

While the Turnpike and Bridge Authority has done a fine job maintaining these two bridges, it has no access to state or federal dollars so relies solely on tolls. That is why it is time to disband this group and have the state take charge.

Handsome, solid bridges are of little use if nobody can afford to use them.