May 12th, 2016

Position Paper:  RI Transportation Infrastructure
Background:  One of our most compelling issues facing RI is fixing our deteriorating roads and bridges.  It’s common knowledge now that RI has the worse infrastructure in the country.  Last year’s FHWA report on the condition of our roads found that 200+ state bridges are deemed “deficient.”  This comes on the heels of our long issue with the poorly maintained Sakonnet Bridge, which had to be replaced in 2012-13; and the Cove “Escape” Bridge in Island Park, which was abruptly closed for a year for emergency repairs in 2011-12.  It was only 50 years old, built in 1961.
        Overshadowing the deplorable state of our roads, which everyone agrees needs to be addressed, is the debate over how we pay for all this.  Implementation of tolls, which caused a huge furor in the East Bay over the Sakonnet Bridge, was beaten back through forceful and effective public outcry and local political support.  The uproar over tolls erupted again last year with the Governor’s RhodeWorks proposal, which was recently passed into law after some modifications (not the least of which was including language that car tolling was prohibited unless approved in a statewide popular referendum).  So the method for paying to fix our infrastructure is now established, but still the subject of intense public debate and criticism.
        This leads us to perhaps the most critical question.  Can our DOT effectively use this new, significant resource stream to get the job done properly?  Given their poor performance record, and recent reports of non-existent management processes, Rhode Island has been placed in a high risk/high consequence circumstance.  Much rides on RIDOT’s reorganization and implementation of a “project management” approach to successfully execute this critical public safety task, requiring huge amounts of money in the process… coming from a controversial plan to use tolling and debt to fund the effort, a plan which has divided our state.  
My position:   Regardless of the divided opinion on tolling, we must begin the serious work of fixing our infrastructure.  And we must ensure effective oversight on project planning and execution is put into place. It’s a great step to institute formal project management discipline into RIDOT’s organization, but that is inadequate without equally formal reporting requirements to a third-party authority, namely the General Assembly.  Frequent and transparent progress reports, with established cost, schedule, and technical status metrics, must be instituted as mandatory oversight of RIDOT’s  project execution. 
Given the intense controversy over the source of these precious resources we’re about to expend on a must-succeed task, the last thing our state needs is any mis-steps in execution of these projects.
  
James A. Seveney
Candidate for State Senate District 11