Nighttime road closures necessary for milling and paving operations
The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) today announced the second and final phase of paving for the Route 44 (Smith Street) resurfacing project in Providence. This work is scheduled to begin next week and will require overnight lane closures and detours.
Work will take place on Smith Street between Oakland Avenue and the I-95 overpass, from Tuesday night, October 10 at 8 p.m. until 6 a.m. the following day. The first step will be to mill the pavement in advance of placing new asphalt, resulting in a rough riding surface.
To minimize the disruption to traffic, residents, and businesses along Smith Street, RIDOT broke this 0.6-mile section of road into three segments, with one night of milling for each segment next week. Two weeks later, the week of October 23, one night of paving will be needed for each segment.
During both milling and paving work, segments of Smith Street will be closed with detours in place. The full schedule for each segment, from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. each night, is as follows:
- Segment 1 - Oakland Avenue to Chalkstone Avenue: Milling on Tuesday night, October 10 and paving on Monday night, October 23
- Segment 2 - Chalkstone Avenue to Orms Street: Milling on Wednesday night, October 11 and paving on Tuesday night, October 24
- Segment 3 - Orms Street to I-95 overpass: Milling on Thursday night, October 12 and paving on Wednesday night, October 25
Detours required during closures include:
Segment 1 - Oakland Avenue to Chalkstone Avenue:
- Eastbound: Right onto Maude Street, left onto Convent Street, right onto Pleasant Valley Parkway, then left on Chalkstone Avenue to return to Smith Street.
- Westbound: Right onto Chalkstone Avenue, left onto Camden Avenue, left onto Chad Brown Street, then left onto Pembroke Avenue to return to Smith Street.
Segment 2 - Chalkstone Avenue to Orms Street:
- Eastbound: Right onto Pleasant Valley Parkway, left onto Valley Street, then right onto Orms Street to return to Smith Street.
- Westbound: Right onto Orms Street, left onto Douglas Avenue, then left onto Chalkstone Avenue to return to Smith Street.
Segment 3 - Orms Street to I-95 overpass:
- Eastbound: Right onto Esten Street, left onto Orms Street, then right onto State Street return to Smith Street.
- Westbound: Right onto Park Street, left onto Douglas Avenue, then left onto Chalkstone Avenue to return to Smith Street.
RIPTA will notify its riders of any impacts to bus routes in this area.
In total, RIDOT is resurfacing 1.6 miles of the roadway from Academy Avenue to the I-95 overpass, and replacing sidewalks along most of the corridor. 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.