If you ever want to make your head spin, taking a look at Rhode Island DOT’s 2022 Transportation Asset Management Plan (TAMP) ought to do the trick.

The 73-page document outlines the entirety of the state’s strategy in fixing, updating, and maintaining its thousands of miles of roadway and hundreds of bridges — from the most minute of details regarding what makes a bridge be determined as in “poor” or “fair” condition, to a detailed projection of how much money needs to be spent in order to keep our state’s transportation system functioning.

Needless to say, much of what you’ll find inside the TAMP will go over the head of anyone without multiple degrees in engineering, finance, and intergovernmental relations — but it does do a sufficient job of putting into perspective the absolutely gargantuan task that RIDOT has in trying to right an infrastructural ship that any layman’s eyes can see has been out to drift for decades prior to the passage of the RhodeWorks legislation in 2016. Even for the smallest state in the nation, the staggering amount of complexity within that problem is sobering.

Also sobering is financial information found within the TAMP. According to DOT’s projection of its expected, reliable revenue streams compared to the projected expenses for repairing the most crucial roads and bridges between now and 2031, Rhode Island will be coming up short in cash in a big way. The TAMP projects a more than $620 million funding gap for road repairs between now and 2031, and a more than $1.1 billion funding gap to repair our most deficient bridges within the same span.

There are countless variables within the funding portion of this problem. Revenue projections are just that; projections. Revenue can certainly come from unexpected places, such as any number of different types of grants, or through unprecedented federal spending packages, like the recent infrastructure bill that was signed by President Biden. At the same time, expenses and costs of construction can fluctuate wildly year to year. It’s an ever-moving target that, again, would require a keen financial mind to dissect.

What we can certainly ascertain even with our limited knowledge of complex infrastructural financing is that losing a dedicated funding source — as Rhode Island has lost since its truck tolling program was shut down as unconstitutional — will only make things more difficult, regardless of how tiny that revenue source may be in the grand scheme of a long-term project where financial need is measured in billions, rather than millions.

What we also know is that the average resident will not be able to avoid this massive infrastructure problem. They will face it consistently in the coming years by way of roads under construction, new detours popping up, and the prevalence of orange Jersey barriers that create makeshift, often confusing lanes of travel on routes they have to take every day.

Rhode Islanders will not likely be able to avoid dealing with this problem through their pocketbooks either. Voters should become prepared for bond referendums in all coming elections that ask for their support to fund transportation-related issues with more tax dollars, as there will never be an adequate amount of federal grants available to close such a significant funding gap as RIDOT has identified in their own calculations.

All of this said, we cannot avoid the problem. Deferred maintenance on roads and bridges only leads to more expenses. The temporary inconvenience of increased traffic and highways lined with orange-blazed debris and detour signs is a necessary pain point we must all endure towards a better future for us all, and it is an investment that although we may not be happy to make, we would be shortsighted to deny.

We implore our local legislative and public service leaders to put their collective heads together in finding creative but sustainable ways to lessen the burden on the taxpaying citizen while making these necessary fixes to our infrastructure.