The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) today announced further changes taking place to city streets in Providence next week as a result of the Iway project. These changes will impact both drivers and pedestrians along Pine Street and Friendship Street in the Upper South Providence neighborhood.
On Thursday, October 21, 2010, RIDOT will permanently reverse the direction of Pine Street and Friendship Street, one-way roads that connect Broad Street to Service Road No. 7/West Franklin Street at the I-95 corridor. The changes are necessary to align Friendship Street with the direction of travel on the new Clifford Street Bridge, which RIDOT opened yesterday.
A future extension of Clifford Street, to be built in 2012 in the path of the old I-195 highway, will also connect to these roads and provide a direct one-way route from the Downcity and Jewelry District areas to South Providence and the R.I. hospitals area.
“We understand these changes will take some time for people to get used to,” RIDOT Director Michael P. Lewis said. “Just as with the highway changes over the past several years, the end result of these changes will be traffic patterns that are more orderly and easier for drivers to use as they move from one area of the city to another.”
In conjunction with these changes, RIDOT will be removing the traffic signal at the intersection of Broad Street and Pine Street. A new signal has been installed one block south at the intersection of Broad Street and Friendship Street. New signals have also been installed at Service Road No. 7/West Franklin Street and Friendship Street and at Service Road No. 7/West Franklin Street and Point Street.
The traffic pattern changes for October 21 are as follows:
Current:
• Friendship Street: One-way eastbound toward the I-95 corridor • Pine Street: One-way westbound toward Broad Street • Summer Street: One-way northbound from Friendship Street to Pine Street
New:
• Friendship Street: One-way westbound toward Broad Street • Pine Street: One-way eastbound toward the I-95 corridor • Summer Street: Two-way from Friendship Street to Pine Street
RIDOT has worked with a neighborhood group called SWAP, Inc. to help inform the community of these changes. RIDOT has participated in two public workshops and distributed maps of the changes in both English and Spanish throughout the area. Copies of all maps also are available on RIDOT’s website at www.dot.ri.gov.
All schedules are weather-dependent and subject to change.
Motorists with questions can contact RIDOT’s Customer Service office at 401-222-2450 weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Additional information will be available on RIDOT’s website (www.dot.ri.gov) and its social media sites on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and Blogger.
Contact: Charles St. Martin (401) 222-1362 x. 4007