Rhode Island has a new road map for its transportation priorities after the State Planning Council approved Thursday the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) 2026-2035.

The federal government mandates that each state create a STIP to outline its transportation projects over a 5- to 10-year period. If a project isn’t included in the document, it can’t receive part of an estimated $10 billion in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The Rhode Island Division of Statewide Planning, the Department of Transportation, and the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority all drafted the document with input from public comments and hearings.

The STIP outlines priorities for the state, including maintaining roads and bridges, better connecting the state through transportation, promoting environmental sustainability, and encouraging economic growth. It currently budgets more than two-thirds of its spending on roads and bridges. Bicycle, pedestrian, and transit projects represent 12% of the funding.

“Highways remain the primary mode of travel in Rhode Island,” according to the report. “Highway projects receive the greatest share of STIP resources, with the focus on state of good repair and system preservation.”

By department, that means that 86% of the funding that STIP outlines would go to RIDOT, 14% for RIPTA, and 1% each to the Rhode Island Toll Bridge Authority and community-led projects.

Within the hundreds of public comments submitted ahead of the draft’s approval, many took issue with the level of funding planned for car-centric transportation over public transit, biking, and walking, especially in light of Rhode Island’s upcoming climate mandates.

State Attorney General Peter Neronha, who will be charged with defending the state against claims made under the Act on Climate law, wrote a letter saying that the STIP doesn’t adequately address transportation-related emissions.

Under the 2021 law, the state is required to get its emissions 45% below 1990 levels by 2030, and enforcement of the law can begin as early as next year. As written, the act allows citizens or organizations that believe the state is violating the law to file suit in court starting in 2026.

The STIP “fails to take a forward-looking approach to achieving the state’s long-term goals, and falls far short of meaningfully furthering compliance on the Act on Climate,” Neronha wrote. He suggested that more funding opportunities for RIPTA and non-car forms of transportation need to be added to the STIP to help Rhode Island meet its emission mandates.

In comparison, the Massachusetts draft STIP includes two sections on greenhouse gas analysis, per its own climate mandates.

“Greenhouse gas” is not mentioned once in Rhode Island’s draft, nor is the Act on Climate.

Scott Wolf, executive director of the anti-sprawl organization Grow Smart Rhode Island and a member of the State Planning Council, voiced his own concerns about the lack of public transportation funding at the Thursday meeting.

“Could we consider passing this STIP with an amendment to the effect of, if there’s additional federal funding, that we prioritize doubling the amount over time, toward bike, [pedestrian], and transit?” Wolf asked.

The proposed amendment wasn’t added to the STIP, but instead, members voted to attach the minutes from the meeting, which noted these concerns, and send them to the governor’s office.

Several members also noted that after the STIP is passed, it can still be changed. The state must meet a Sept. 30 deadline to send the plan to the Federal Highway Administration for final approval.

Wolf was the only member to vote against the plan.

“If I thought that my vote is going to sink the state’s efforts to get any federal funding after Oct. 1, or transportation writ large, I would vote for the STIP,” he said, “but I think it’s important that somebody on this council, especially somebody who doesn’t have constraints that other people have, speak out about some of the what we perceive as inadequacies of a plan that’s got a lot of good elements.”