‘Status quo roadmap’: Critics say new RI transportation plan fails climate, transit goals

Rhode Island planners have approved a new version of the state’s 10-year transportation funding plan over objections that it is too focused on automobiles and will not do enough to meet the state’s climate goals.

The State Transportation Improvement Plan for 2026-2025 lays out $11.5 billion worth of spending over that period, including construction, maintenance, highways, streets, sidewalks, bridges, buses and ferries.

Despite his big-picture opposition, Wolf said positive projects in the new 10-year plan included the Kingston Station Mobility Hub, Westerly Train Station platform upgrades, Mount Hope Bay Greenway and Wakefield Main Street improvements.

Grow Smart RI is part of a dozen-group coalition, including the Acadia Center, Save RIPTA and the Conservation Law Foundation, that wrote with a series of requests to the Planning Council including:

• A detailed account of how the state DOT plans to reduce carbon emissions and take steps to reduce driving instead of relying on a transition to electric cars
• A separate plan section on how the state intends to execute the Transit Master Plan
• Shift some flexible federal transportation funding toward RIPTA
• Put funding behind plans to electrify the MBTA’s Providence Line
• Build dedicated bus lanes on existing highway lanes and include a carpool lane on the new westbound Washington Bridge.

To read the full article from the Providence Journal, click here.