The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) has announced the next phase of construction for its ongoing resurfacing project on Route 44 (Smith Street) in Providence, which will require daytime lane closures and detours. Work will begin on Monday, August 7 on a 1-mile segment of Smith Street from Academy Avenue to Oakland Avenue.
The first step will be to mill the pavement in advance of placing new asphalt, resulting in a rough riding surface.
During milling operations, eastbound traffic will be unaffected but westbound traffic will be detoured. When paving work begins the following week, both eastbound and westbound traffic will be detoured. Parking will not be permitted within active construction zones.
To minimize the disruption to traffic and residents and businesses along Smith Street, RIDOT broke this 1-mile segment into three phases with milling to be performed on three successive days and paving to take place during a three-day period the following week.
The anticipated milling schedule for next week, from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day, is as follows:
Monday, August 7: Academy Avenue to Lyndhurst Avenue; Tuesday, August 8: River Avenue to Huxley Avenue; Wednesday, August 9: Hilltop Avenue to Oakland Avenue.
Detours required for westbound traffic during milling include:
Monday, August 7: Lyndhurst Avenue north to Eaton Street, which returns to Smith Street; Tuesday, August 8: Huxley Avenue north to Eaton Street, left onto River Street to return to Smith Street; Wednesday, August 9: Oakland Avenue north to Eaton Street, left onto River Avenue to return to Smith Street. Alternatively, Pleasant Valley Parkway may be used as a detour.
For daytime paving operations, both eastbound and westbound traffic will use Eaton Street as part of the signed detour. Like the milling work, the roadway will be divided into three segments for paving from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day, is as follows:
Wednesday, August 16: Academy Avenue to Lyndhurst Avenue; Thursday, August 17: River Avenue to Huxley Avenue; Friday, August 18: Hilltop Avenue to Oakland Avenue.
Detours required for all traffic during paving include:
Wednesday, August 16: Eaton Street via Lyndhurst Avenue; Thursday, August 17: Eaton Street via Huxley Avenue and River Street; Friday, August 18: Eaton Street via Oakland Avenue and River Avenue.
RIPTA will be notifying its riders of any impacts to bus routes in this area.
Additional segments of Smith Street will be milled and paved in September. In total, RIDOT will resurface 1.6 miles of the roadway from Academy Avenue to Holden Street. The $4.2 million project is on time and budget and final completion is expected by the end of 2017.
The Smith Street improvement project is made possible by RhodeWorks, RIDOT's ongoing commitment to repair structurally deficient bridges and bring Rhode Island's transportation infrastructure into a state of good repair, promote economic development, and create jobs. Learn more at www.ridot.net/RhodeWorks.