EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — In hopes of alleviating congestion leading up to the Washington Bridge , the R.I. Department of Transportation (RIDOT) will be testing new traffic patterns in the coming months.
Starting at 10 p.m. Friday, RIDOT will reduce the number of lanes on I-195 West from three to two near the East Shore Expressway entrance in East Providence.
RIDOT said traffic modeling conducted by engineers showed that creating a merge at that point of the highway should reduce travel time.
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“This pattern will allow those using the East Shore Expressway, Pawtucket Avenue and Broadway ramps to merge more easily,” RIDOT said in a news release.
The new traffic pattern will be in place at least through the weekend and the beginning of the next work week so RIDOT can assess its effectiveness.
“The suggestion came from a constituent who had said, ‘Hey maybe if we started merging these lanes further back, it would give people more time to get on from the on-ramps,’” East Providence Mayor Bob DaSilva said on this week’s Newsmakers . “So I gave the suggestion to the director and the director modeled it.”