The Municipal Road and Bridge Revolving Fund

By working together, we can accomplish so much for Rhode Island. The Municipal Road and Bridge Revolving Fund is an example of an innovative program developed in part by Treasury that was overwhelmingly supported by the General Assembly in their FY 2015 budget.

During this legislative session, the Fund received two separate appropriations for $5 million and $3.3 million respectively, for a total of $8.3 million.  This adds to the $6.9 million that was allocated last year, and has already been put to use across the state. East Providence, Pawtucket, Newport, Burrillville, New Shoreham, Westerly and Warwick are all planning projects thanks to this fund.

The Municipal Road and Bridge Revolving Fund provides Rhode Island’s cities and towns with a reliable funding source for long-range planning at a lower interest rate to avoid future debt payments and provide local budget relief.

The Fund was quickly implemented by the Rhode Island Clean Water Finance Agency and the Department of Transportation after its creation in the 2013 legislative session, and continues to build on the success of the Clean Water Finance Agency.

The Municipal Road and Bridge Revolving Fund will help to improve our state’s economy and create more jobs, while supporting Rhode Island’s locally maintained roads and bridges.

We expect more projects will be announced in the upcoming months.

My goal in helping to establish this program is to take direct action towards solving the issues that impact Rhode Islanders daily. The implementation of this fund will create new jobs in the building trades, which will help to compensate for the drop in available construction jobs over the past few years.

The low interest rates attached to the loans will create savings for our cities and towns as they work to repair Rhode Island’s aging roads and bridges.

Our infrastructure is the backbone of our state. By working together, we are taking the steps necessary to make Rhode Island stronger.

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