Highway traffic should consider using I-295 and Route 146 to avoid congestion and delays
The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) will begin the next phase of extended-weekend highway lane closures and local street closures tonight, June 5, for work at the bridges that carry I-95 over Roosevelt Avenue and East Street in Pawtucket. RIDOT expects delays and recommends that highway travelers use I-295 and Route 146 as alternate routes.
During the extended-weekend operation, one of the three I-95 South through lanes in the area of Exit 30 will be closed. It will reopen prior to the morning rush hour on Monday, June 8 and the current lane split will be removed with lanes shifted to the right. In approximately two weeks, this pattern will change slightly with all lanes shifted to the left. Travel lanes on I-95 North will not be affected.
This weekend's operation will affect local traffic on Roosevelt Avenue, with the road closed at the I-95 overpass. Motorists on Roosevelt Avenue (which is one-way running westbound) will follow a detour by turning left onto George R. Bennett Highway, right onto Broadway and right onto East Street to return to Roosevelt Avenue. Additionally, RIDOT will make a short section of Middle Street, just west of the highway overpass, open to two-way traffic to provide access to homes off the closed part of Roosevelt Avenue.
Six additional weekend construction periods will be scheduled over the course of one year. The tentative schedule is as follows:
I-95 South
• Early and Late July 2020: I-95 South lane closure and East Street closed
I-95 North
• Late August and Late September 2020: I-95 North lane closure and East Street closed
• Early May and Late May 2021: I-95 North lane closure and Roosevelt Avenue closed
Exit 30 on I-95 South remains closed until late summer. In July, the southbound lane split will return just south of Exit 30 for work on the East Street Bridge and remain in effect until early August. Detour maps for all closures can be found at www.ridot.net/DetourMaps.
A total of four bridges will be replaced in this $25 million design-build project which will be ongoing through Spring 2021. The bridges are functionally obsolete and carry approximately 90,000 vehicles per day. The entire project is scheduled to be finished in Spring 2021.
All construction projects are subject to changes in schedule and scope depending on needs, circumstances, findings, and weather.
The I-95 Corridor Bridges Project was 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.