Beth from North Kingstown & Fred from Cranston – Asking about the traffic signal timing on Route 4, saying they have to wait a long time to exit the side streets.

We are continuing to evaluate the signal timings and will be sending our people out there to observe traffic volumes and wait times.

Scott from Glocester – Deplorable conditions on Route 6 East and Route 116

As I shared on this show last week, we recognize that Route 6 has been neglected for far too long, but within our 10-year plan, we’ll be investing more than $25 million on projects to help address it. We’re addressing this stretch of Route 6, actually from Route 102 to Danielson Pike starting in 2019.

Sal from Little Compton- Business selling trailers on State property on Route 2 prior to I-295 and the Mall

Our Property Management section visited the location and reached out to the owner of the equipment and the trailers were removed yesterday.

Lisa from Cranston – Awful condition of Park Avenue from Broad Street to Knightsville

Park Avenue is under the jurisdiction of the City of Cranston. We spoke with the Cranston Public Works Department and learned they have resurfacing planned, and the timetable is dependent on a local bond issue before voters this fall.

Claire from Narragansett – backups on Point Judith Road heading toward Route 1, with only one lane open on Route 108

This work is being performed by National Grid for the Deep Water Wind Project. We’ve been in touch with National Grid and understand they will be meeting with the Towns of Narragansett and South Kingstown this week to consider night work for final paving of some sections of Route 108. They have a website with more information at: www.sea2shoreri.com.

Chuck from North Kingstown – Why couldn’t RIDOT do something to the Hussey Bridge like they did the 80-hour bridge job in East Providence? The Hussey Bridge is a much smaller span.

RIDOT will employ accelerated bridge construction methods wherever it can. But it can’t be done in all situations. In this case, the Hussey Bridge is one of the most historic bridges in the state, and we wouldn’t want to demolish it and build a replica bridge that wouid be built off site and lowered into
place.

We were able to have two limited closure periods – avoid impacting summer traffic -~ which let us rehabilitate this historic bridge in as short a timeframe as possible.

The Route 6 Bypass in Scituate has a slow vehicle lane on the westbound side going up the hill. This lane is marked by a solid white line with a very small breakdown lane. The eastbound side has a very large breakdown lane. This has confused many people over the years. They think that the eastbound breakdown lane is a travel lane, which makes it very dangerous for anyone sitting in the lane. Can you signify the slow vehicle lane with a dashed line? And place a no traveling in the breakdown lane on the eastbound side?

Both solid lines and dashed lines are allowed to separate these truck lanes. By having a solid line it’s less likely to be used as a travel lane for all vehicles – and more likely just used by trucks. We’ll review the signage out there and add more if needed to clearly define the purpose of the lane.

Michael from Bristol – if you have time can you ask the Director for an update on Metacom Avenue (RT136) in Bristol?

Under our 10-year plan, we’ve include a $4.9 million project to make important safety improvements along this road, including adding left turn lanes at some of the traffic signals and will be upgraded the traffic signals themselves.

Richard – Regarding lights at intersections, especially on Route 4, why can’t we just have more smart lights that would automatically balance the load from all directions?

We see far more traffic on the mainline of Route 4 than we do the side streets. We’ve done our best to balance the traffic demands fairly, striking a balance between waiting time on the side streets and the hundreds of cars typically stopped at the red lights on Route 4. We are constantly evaluating new technologies as they arise and analyzing whether they may be applicable on roads like Route 4..