Dear Neighbors:
Chanukah begins tonight, and I wish a happy Festival of Lights to those in our community who celebrate it. In this week’s letter I will discuss my legislative proposal to measure and improve the efficiency of the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT).
A. The Role Of Efficiency Measurement
We all want our government to operate efficiently. The General Assembly recently required that the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) commission an efficiency report as a condition to receiving additional funding. RIPTA completed its Efficiency Study this past summer. The study revealed that RIPTA operates at comparable cost-efficiency to its peers in other jurisdictions. Because the study was not complete when the General Assembly session concluded in June, RIPTA had to close a $10 million budget gap by reducing essential services, harming thousands of Rhode Islanders every day.
B. Efficiency Questions At RIDOT
1. RIDOT’s Limited Understanding Of Its Contractors’ Work
A Report in Monday’s Providence Journal revealed the need for an efficiency study for RIDOT. At a joint oversight hearing last month, the RIDOT Director was asked if any of the bridge inspection contractors whom the State was suing for the Washington bridge failure were still performing work for RIDOT. The Director answered that “I’m not aware or unaware of them.” When asked at the hearing whether it was wise to engage engineers whom the State claimed were responsible for a major failure, the Director stated that “”We do business with literally hundreds of contractors, a billion dollars a year in construction activities that we do at DOT… I don’t hold any opinions on any of them.”
Based on its research, the Report revealed that the contractors in question had conducted 886 inspections over the past two years. Putting aside the linguistic conundrum of what it means for someone to be “not aware or unaware” of a particular circumstance, the situation at RIDOT raises the questions of (1) whether it is efficient to hire inspectors to do work when their previous work is claimed to be defective and (2) whether RIDOT is spending its “billion dollars a year in construction activities” efficiently.
2. Comparing RIDOT’s Efficiency To Other New England States
I found one data source that suggests room to improve RIDOT’s efficiency. The Reason Foundation prepares an annual report comparing the 50 states’ highway programs. The most recent Report (from March, 2025) lists Rhode Island as 31st nationally in cost efficiency per lane-mile of highway, less efficient than the rest of New England, including Connecticut (18th) and Massachusetts (12th). For these reasons, I plan to introduce legislation to require the commission of a report to review the efficiency of RIDOT’s highway and bridge construction program.
C. The (Now Confirmed To Be Efficient) RIPTA Budget
RIPTA’s operations are efficient, as confirmed by the recently completed study. RIPTA currently has a funding gap of approximately $10 million. According to the RIDOT Director’s “billion dollar” testimony, RIPTA’s operations deficit amounts to a small percentage of RIDOT’s construction budget. Given the stresses on our general revenue budget I described in last week’s letter, I believe that the best way to fund RIPTA adequately will be to transfer funding from RIDOT, at least while an efficiency study is conducted and completed. I plan to introduce legislation to enact such a transfer.