By WPRO News and The Associated Press
Calling the agency dysfunctional, Gov. Gina Raimondo and the director of the state Department of Transportation announced changes to the agency.
Director Peter Alviti and Democratic Gov. Raimondo discussed the changes Wednesday.
“This department just hasn’t been working, we’ve been wasting too much money,” said Raimondo.
They say the department has developed a 10-year plan that prioritizes maintenance work, and is improving accountability by designating project managers and making personnel changes.
They say the department is also hiring additional maintenance workers instead of filling open administrative positions.
Alviti says he needs to hire someone to fix the potholes, not a photographer to photograph them.
Raimondo says she inherited an agency that was dysfunctional in many ways, lacked accountability and didn’t use best practices.
She says it’s time to fix it.
“We’re constantly lurching from emergency to emergency because we don’t maintain our roads and bridges.
Raimondo and Alviti say the agency still needs predictable funding to plan better. They repeated their pitch for a scheme to impose tolls on large trucks to raise additional funding for road and bridge repairs. The General Assembly considered, but did not pass her proposal for truck tolls in the last session.
