Procurement News Notice |
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| PNN | 6315 |
| Work Detail | Jon Tetrault works for Slocum Realty, off Greenwich Avenue, and the Slocum Insurance Agency on the other side of Apponaug Village. So, he often drives through the village, he said. “Traffic can be a bit of a nightmare,” he said, sitting in his car Thursday in one of Apponaug’s shopping plazas. Plans to make the drive smoother have been in the works since 2014, and the ongoing construction can't be missed: bright orange cones and road construction signs are everywhere. When the project is completed in 2017, at a cost of $71 million including a $29.8-million construction contract, drivers will face a total of five new roundabouts. Last month, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation opened part of the Toll Gate roundabout. "They're progressing pretty good, actually," Tetrault said. The project is one month ahead of schedule, a success DOT spokesman Charles St. Martin III attributes to DOT reorganization. In the past, one group would oversee the design of a project, and the construction crew would then take over. “The two didn’t always … talk and communicate,” St. Martin said. Projects would then sometimes run behind schedule, and over costs. But an initiative of the new DOT administration has been to assign managers to oversee projects. Courtney M. Raymond “oversees the whole kit and caboodle,” St. Martin said of the circulator’s project manager. The ahead-of-schedule work is partly due to advance utility work, before the construction started, Raymond said. The goal of the project is to make the village more attractive to pedestrians and bike riders, and increase traffic to local businesses. Currently, about 24,500 vehicles make their way on Post Road daily in the village. When the project is completed, that number will decrease to 5,000, Raymond said. “We’ve already kind of witnessed it ourselves, traffic seems to go a little better already,” she said. In the evening peak hours, for example, it now takes five minutes to go from Centerville Road to West Shore Road, eastbound. When the project is completed, it will take under two minutes, she said. Dennis Harrington, who works for Cox Electric, said he also goes through the circulator, “quite a bit.” “It’s not too bad,” he said of the drive. Hearing RIDOT was placing five roundabouts in the small area was “a little scary,” he said, but then added, “anything to improve the traffic patterns,” was welcomed. What’s next October: People will be able to drive westbound on Veterans Memorial Extension Drive and through the Toll Gate roundabout. |
| Country | United States , Northern America |
| Industry | Construction |
| Entry Date | 15 Oct 2016 |
| Source | http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20160905/apponaug-village-road-project-in-warwick-smooth-going-so-far |
