One state is looking to return to its old ways of tolling truckers in order to fund infrastructure repairs.
After a nearly four-year hiatus and a lengthy legal battle, Rhode Island is inching closer to reactivating its truck-only tolls.
The state introduced tolls on commercial vehicles in 2018 to help pay for bridge repairs and other infrastructure projects. But in September 2022, a U.S. District Court struck down the program, ruling it unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause, which bars states from imposing charges with the intent to discriminate in favor of domestic entities and against out-of-state or interstate entities.
Rhode Island challenged that decision, and in December 2024, a federal appeals court reversed the earlier ruling. The court found that the tolling system did not meet the legal standard for a Commerce Clause violation, noting that there wasn’t sufficient evidence that out-of-state truckers were placed at a “significant” disadvantage.
The decision cleared the way for the state to restart truck tolling, with adjustments. Namely, the state would be required to remove the daily caps on tolls, with the court finding that those caps unfairly favored local trucking companies and were therefore unconstitutional.
Since that decision, the state has been attempting to reactivate the tolls, albeit with plenty of objection. Despite concerns from lawmakers and local trucking groups, Gov. Dan McKee has been steadfast in his support of the reactivation.
In June 2025, the state finance committee approved a budget that projected tolls would be reactivated in the first half of 2026. As that timeline passed, the state hit another hurdle in reactivating the tolls.
In March, RIDOT Interim Director Robert Rocchio told state officials that the state would need roughly $30 million in updates to the current billing system and gantries – which sat unused since 2022 – before the tolls could be reinstated.
Now, nearly three months later, the state has selected the company that will create the new back-office system for billing, awarding a tentative $944,000 contract to a Canada-based firm named Electronic Transaction Consultants.
A spokesperson for RIDOT said the company anticipates the new billing system will go online no later than May 2027, but noted that tolls may not go online until July 2027. LL
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