Governor McKee Highlights 2023 Rhode Island Department of Transportation Accomplishments Published on Friday, December 29, 2023 PROVIDENCE, RI – Governor Dan McKee today outlined the improvements the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) has made in the past year to strengthen Rhode Island’s transportation infrastructure system for all users. The improvements continue RIDOT’s mission to replace deficient roads, bridges and bike paths, and make other changes that make the state’s transportation system safer and more efficient, eliminating chronic congestion problems which in turn reduces vehicle emissions. And the Department continues to do so at a high level of quality and transparency for taxpayers, with a 90 percent on-time, on-budget performance record. “Rhode Island continues to steadily make gains in improving our transportation system, and our Department of Transportation is making these changes at a rapid pace, carefully balancing traffic impacts during construction to get us to new, better roads, bridges, sidewalks and bike paths,” Governor Dan McKee said. “We remain laser focused on bringing our state’s transportation system into a state of good repair, erasing decades of neglected roads and bridges and making it safer and more efficient for everyone,” said RIDOT Director Peter Alviti. “RIDOT will never waver on its commitment to deliver high-quality projects for Rhode Islanders, on time and on budget.” Paving Projects RIDOT completed its second year of a five-year, $500 million investment in resurfacing state roads thanks to additional federal funding provided by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Roads finished this year include I-95 in southern Rhode Island, I-295 from Johnston to Warwick, Route 1 in Charlestown, Boston Neck Road in North Kingstown and Narragansett, Aquidneck Avenue in Middletown, and South County Trail in Charlestown and South Kingstown. Municipal Road and Bridge Fund Program RIDOT assisted cities and towns in the application and awarding of $20 million of state funds to fix local roads. The highly successful program saw all 39 cities and towns participate, with each contributing two-thirds of the cost for their projects. The net result was a $74 million investment in local roads, 621 projects representing 421 lane miles of roads and nearly 135,000 linear feet of sidewalks. Stormwater Improvements RIDOT completed retrofits to five existing stormwater treatment units to bring them up to current design and to fulfill permitting standards for water quality, installed new stormwater treatment units in the Greenwich Bay Upland watershed, and cleaned and maintained more than 12,000 catch basins. Rapid Bridge Construction RIDOT successfully used accelerated bridge construction methods to replace bridge decks on major highway corridors. In each case, RIDOT conducted extended weekend closures to demolish and replace the structures, condensing what would have been two or more years of lane closures, shifts and delays into just a few days. These included the replacement of the Wellington Avenue Bridge, carrying I-95 near Route 10 in Cranston, which was replaced over four consecutive weekends, and the Route 37 East Bridge over the Pawtuxet River. RIDOT continues to make strides in reducing its high percentage of structurally deficient bridges. The percentage of structurally deficient bridges dropped from 27 percent in 2016 to less than 15 percent. RIDOT is well on track to reach its goal of no more than 10 percent deficient bridges by 2026. The total value of all projects under RhodeWorks is $4.2 billion, a total of 303 projects addressing 402 bridges. Since the beginning of RhodeWorks in 2016, the Department has completed 232 projects, including the repair and replacement of 269 bridges. In the past federal fiscal year, RIDOT completed 25 bridges. Transit Improvements RIDOT opened the new Pawtucket-Central Falls Transit Center, a combined MBTA commuter rail and RIPTA bus hub that has far exceeded ridership expectations (690 daily boardings as opposed to a projection of 520 daily boardings) and is serving as a catalyst for transit-oriented development in Pawtucket and Central Falls. RIDOT also continued to operate the Providence to Newport Ferry, carrying more than 35,000 passengers this past summer between the two cities for a combined ridership of 285,000 people in its first eight years. Safety Improvements The Department invested $30 million in engineered safety improvements and funded $1.5 million in paid public service messaging to discourage dangerous driving behaviors, such as impaired and distracted driving. In November, the RIDOT Roadside Responder service began. This pilot program uses service vehicles patrolling Providence-area highways to help clear disabled vehicles stopped on the side of the road, helping to reduce congestion on our highways. Maintenance Improvements RIDOT continues to upgrade and expand its fleet of vehicles and inventory of tools to maintain the 1,100 miles of state roadway more effectively. In 2023, this included going out to bid for more than 20 new plow trucks, and taking possession of new mowers, road sweepers, and drainage cleaning trucks. To tackle Rhode Island’s persistent litter problem, RIDOT bought tractor-mounted litter pickers turf sweepers so it can pick up litter faster. RIDOT Also purchased a building in Providence to house its dedicated bridge maintenance division. Pedestrian and Bicycle Improvements RIDOT committed $30 million in improvements for pedestrians and bicycle users statewide. Such improvements are also included in most of RIDOT’s projects, including the recently opened new shared-use path across the Henderson Bridge and bike paths being built as part of the Route 6/10 Interchange project in Providence and Pell Bridge Ramps project in Newport. RIDOT continues to work on replacing the popular East Bay Bike Path Bridges. ##