Following a lengthy court battle, Rhode Island’s truck-only tolls are expected to resume in 2026.
On Thursday, Jan. 16, Gov. Dan McKee unveiled a $14.2 billion budget proposal that includes a projected $10 million in revenue from truck tolls. According to state budget officials, there is no set timeline for when the tolls will be turned back on.
However, those projected figures may give some indication as to when the tolls will resume.
The state estimates the tolls will generate $40 million in revenue in their first full year in operation. The $10 million figure, which officials said they felt the state could comfortably achieve, would signal the tolls would likely resume in the fourth quarter of the 2025-2026 fiscal year – April through June 2026.
Despite this likely timetable, Brian Daniels, director of the Rhode Island Office of Management and Budget, would not commit when asked if the tolls would be resuming in the latter part of that fiscal year.
“It may be, or it may be ramping up over time,” Daniels told reporters during a press briefing. “We may turn some on before others, but $10 million is sort of a ballpark as to what we think we could accomplish in ’26.”
The resumption of the state’s tolls on commercial vehicles follows a nearly three-year-long legal battle.
In September 2022, a U.S. District Court in Rhode Island ruled that the state’s truck tolling plan violated the dormant commerce clause – which prohibits states from imposing charges with the intent to discriminate in favor of domestic, and against out-of-state or interstate, entities.
Less than a month after being ordered to stop collecting tolls, the state appealed the district court’s ruling. In December 2024, the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the state, opening the door for the state to turn the tolls back on, with some adjustments.
While the appeals court did determine the state could resume its truck-only tolls, it declared the daily caps placed on the tolls to be unconstitutional, stating they disproportionately benefitted local trucking companies.
Daniels said the proposed budget did not have anything regarding a daily cap for the truck tolls, noting the lack of a cap will give the state DOT “flexibility” when working on tolling rates.
“I think one thing we need to be careful of with the court decision is not disproportionately benefitting one group over another, but this gives us an opportunity to figure out what’s the best way to do it in an equitable fashion,” he said. LL
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