DOT SAP Evaluation in Rhode Island — 14 Providers Listed

Rhode Island's freight is I-95 through Providence and I-295 around it, with the Port of Davisville at Quonset Point handling automobiles and the Port of Providence handling bulk. The state is small enough that a SAP in Massachusetts or Connecticut is often as close as one in Providence. Below are 14 listings for Rhode Island, 1 of which says on its own website it performs DOT SAP evaluations, with offices in Cranston. The other 13 listings are for treatment or testing, which you may need later in the process, not for the evaluation itself.

There is no Rhode Island version of the SAP process. The return-to-duty steps are federal, set out in 49 CFR Part 40, and they are the same for a driver in Rhode Island as for one anywhere else. The state's part is the CDL itself. Since November 18, 2024 (FMCSA), the Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles must downgrade the license of a driver in prohibited status within 60 days, and it is the office that restores the commercial privilege after a negative return-to-duty test.

A remote evaluation is accepted in Rhode Island because the federal rule permits it everywhere: a SAP may evaluate you by real-time video at their discretion (49 CFR §40.291), provided their own license lets them see a driver in Rhode Island. A SAP across the line in Connecticut and Massachusetts is also an option, in person or by video, under the same licensing question. What cannot be done by video is the return-to-duty test itself, which is an observed collection at a collection site.