By Alicia Korney, Staff Writer | 07/12/2004
Route 1 in South County has seen more wear and tear in recent years with more motorists commuting to Providence. Upcoming construction projects to repair the road should not disrupt summer travel, DOT says.
After years of discussion, the heavily traveled stretch of South County’s Route 1 leading through South Kingstown and North Kingstown will finally see a permanent makeover.
A number of factors have led to the need for changes to the rural roadway, said Edmund Parker Jr., chief design engineer for the Rhode Island Department of Transportation. Traffic is now a year-round presence in the southern part of the state and the increase in the volume of people have added considerable time to the commute north up to Providence.
“It’s a road built in the 1950s that managed to function very well for 25 years,” Parker said. “In the last 10 years is when the problems have become more apparent.”
For travelers, the most apparent change in recent months has been the closure of 11 turnarounds on the North Kingstown stretch of road, where hundreds of orange barrels have been placed in a double row to prevent cars from reversing their direction.
“Cautiously optimistic,” Parker said the DOT had hoped to improve safety along the stretch of road by reducing the speed limit, adding “intersection ahead” signs and installing flashing lights earlier this year. In response to a number of accidents, including a March fatality at the intersection of Gilbert Stuart and Shermantown roads, the more than 400 barrels were put in place this spring.
Parker said the complication with closing median openings, especially in South Kingstown, is that sealing off any turnaround only focuses the problem at the next median opening.
The DOT is planning a September start for the construction of a new signalized “jughandle” – a turnaround lane – south of Shermantown Road and opposite Hammond Farm in North Kingstown. Work will begin after Labor Day and should be completed by the end of October. That work will include the permanent closure of the median turnarounds, spanning from SSTAR of Rhode Island at 1950 Tower Hill Road to Westmoreland Lane, which will be made to look like the rest of the grassy median.
“The bad news is that the project is not moving as quickly as we had originally hoped,” said Parker, who added that modifications to the project’s drainage plans will likely add another $250,000 component that could not be included in the original contract. “The good news is that this is not going to disrupt summer traffic,” he said.
In a separate project, some clearing work has already started further south in South Kingstown, where another 14 median turnarounds will eventually be closed and a wire guardrail will be installed.
Discussion leading to the proposed reconstruction of the 3.5-mile stretch of Route 1, from the Mooresfield Road and Route 138 intersection to the Oliver Stedman Government Center in Wakefield, began in January 2002. The project, at a cost of more than $5 million, will also include the completion of a partial jughandle and the intersection of Route 1 and 138 will be built. That work is being coordinated with United Water, which is planning to simultaneously install a water main beneath the median and won’t be completed until next year.
While the projects are expected to improve public safety, Parker noted that the answers still aren’t easy when it comes to tackling Route 1 traffic congestion. He said the state remains engaged in talks about extending the commuter rail south to the Wickford Junction area, or all the way to Kingston Station and potentially into Westerly.
Parker said the DOT continues to encourage the use of RIPTA’s bus lines, which remain underutilized as far as the state is concerned in South County. And while Parker said that advocating for carpooling may be an oversimplification of the problem, it remains that a majority of the cars traveling the road contain single occupants.
Parker said work restrictions for the Route 1 projects won’t allow any closing of travel lanes between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. and no shoulder work can be performed during commuting hours between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. and between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. No work will be done from Friday afternoons extending through the weekend and some night work is expected.
From Providence Business News
