Yesterday, at the Rhode Island Welcome Center on Route 95, you could peer into the future and see a toll plaza rising in the northbound lanes near the Connecticut border, a vision that had New York truck driver Steven Polovchak seeing red — red brake lights, that is.

“This road is so busy, it would slow traffic so bad. I don’t see how it would work,” said Polovchak. “It’s bad enough when there’s an accident. It backs way up.”

But several people, responding to a proposal for a $3 toll for cars and $6 for trucks, said it was an acceptable way for Rhode Island to raise money to maintain its transportation system.

“That would perhaps be a good way — $3 is not that much to help support the roads,” said Carlene Clark, who heads north on the highway from Niantic, Conn., about once a month to shop in Providence and visit family in Massachusetts.

On Thursday, the Department of Transportation released a draft report on a variety of ways the state could raise money to improve Rhode Island roads and bridges, many in desperate need of repair. The recommendations for new tolls and taxes, and raising existing taxes and fees, were prepared by a task force established by Governor Carcieri. It is expected to complete its final report soon.

Among the proposals were instituting tolls at the Sakonnet Bridge (which is slated to be replaced) and at the Connecticut border on Route 95; raising the gasoline tax by up to 15 cents a gallon over the next seven years; increasing bi-annual vehicle registration fees $40 a year, from $60 to as much as $140 by 2013; and creating a new tax on petroleum-based products, including plastics and paint. All of these are elements of a plan that would raise $150 million a year.

In an alternative plan that would raise $300 million a year, new revenues would also come from a first-in-the-nation tax of up to one penny per mile driven per vehicle (about $100 for 10,000 miles driven annually) and tolls, not just at the Connecticut border, but on other highways leading into the state, including Routes 295, 195 and 95.

At the Route 95 Welcome Center, at a filling station and truck stop in West Greenwich and at the Express Motor Vehicle Registry in Warwick, people weren’t exactly ready to “honk if you love tolls and taxes.” While some were incredulous, others were understanding.

As he waited his turn at the registry at the Rhode Island Mall, Adolph Perretta, 69, of Warwick, was asked what he thought about the possible registration fee hike.

“Ridiculous!” he said, noting that the increase would hit him three times as hard since his family owns three cars. “They are making it tough and tougher. We’re paying more than any other state in the union.”

“I pay enough — $60,” said James Hunt, 61, of Warwick. “With people out of work, how can you think about raising fees like these.”

At the Route 95 Welcome Center, Diane Brown said she travels from her home in Montville, Conn., twice a week to visit her mother in Newport.

“That would be very expensive for me. I wouldn’t like it,” she said.

Brent Reyburn, who lives in Richmond and works at the Welcome Center, also disliked the proposed $3 toll and said locals would circumvent it.

“I know how not to pay the toll. You could avoid it,” she said. “Truckers know how to avoid tolls, too. And that makes more traffic on the local roads.”

Richard Mallove, a New London-based driver for a company that transports a student from Connecticut to the Groden Center in Providence, said, “I would go along with it.” The toll wouldn’t come out of his pocket, he said, and “it’s going to make added revenues for the state and less of a burden down the road as far as the [rising] cost to repair the roads.”

At the 24-Hour Truck Stop in West Greenwich, John Denaro sat in the big rig he owns and uses to deliver plumbing supplies around New England.

“I would go elsewhere if they raise it,” he said, referring to the proposed gas tax hike and his ability to purchase fuel from his home in Sturbridge, Mass., all the way to Maine. He said he would fill up in states where the gas is cheapest.

Two young women at the truck stop said they would consider buying gas elsewhere if it goes up more in Rhode Island.

“If people can easily go to Massachusetts, they will,” said Sarah Chou, of Providence, while filling her tank.

Neither she, nor Andrea Merrihew, of Bristol, liked the tax on miles driven.

“I like seeing my family in Long Island and I shouldn’t have to pay for that,” said Merrihew.

Yesterday, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Exit 20 off Route 95, Governor Carcieri initially said all the proposals remained on the table, but he later conceded that the so-called VMT (vehicle miles traveled) fee would likely be dropped.

“Nobody is committed to anything right now, but we know we need to raise a lot of money,” he said.

When given the opportunity to comment yesterday, leaders in the Senate and the House would not openly endorse or oppose the proposals.

“We’d obviously have to take what the report says into consideration. … It’s another avenue to generate revenue,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Daniel DaPonte, D-East Providence.

Keith Stokes, executive director of the Newport County Chamber of Commerce and a member of the commission that drafted the report, said the proposed $3 toll on the Sakonnet River Bridge would not be equitable to residents and businesses on Aquidneck Island, particularly if they must also pay fees to use Routes 95 and 195.

Any shift in tax policy should be fair to Rhode Islanders and visitors alike and should aim at increasing mass transit and conserving the environment, he said. In addition, he said, Rhode Island should not get out of step with neighboring states.

“If we start changing tax policy, many businesses vote with their feet,” Stokes said.

With reports from Gina Macris and Steve Peoples.

rsalit@projo.com