Commuters adapting to Route 95 lane changes in Providence

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The state police and Department of Transportation officials said inbound traffic Monday morning on Route 95 south seemed to have adapted to the lane changes there that snarled traffic all the way to the Massachusetts line one day last week.

The DOT is working on the viaduct that carries the three lanes of Route 95 through downtown, and its first attempt, on Tuesday, to direct traffic away from the work, left motorists confused and created a backup that left some in traffic for more than an hour.

Monday's commute went much more smoothly, a development that DOT Director Peter Alviti attributed to better signs, planning and publicity by the agency and the patience of commuters.

Two or three minor rear-end collisions snarled the morning commute at times, but overall, state police said the morning seem to go as expected.

"We haven't really had anything," Lt. Derek Borek said Monday. "I drove it myself."

The right lane of the exit from Route 95 south to Routes 6 and 10 was blocked after a 6 a.m. collision there, officials said. It took about an hour to clear that scene, according to the DOT.

That area can be difficult, especially at rush hours, as it is just past the point where southbound traffic from Route 146 merges onto Route 95. Many cars from Route 146 try to work their way from right to left to reach Route 95's left lanes, while at the same time some traffic from Route 95 south is trying to work from left to right to get to exits for Routes 6 and 10 or Atwells Avenue.

The area was a traffic-control mess last Tuesday, when the DOT tried to implement the new southbound lane scheme over the old viaduct bridge near the Foundry and Providence Place mall. The DOT is moving three southbound lanes, one at a time, from the old viaduct bridge to the new one being built.

Last Tuesday, a divider in the middle of the four lanes, which was intended to keep traffic off a lane that was being worked on, confused commuters. The two lanes to the left of the divider, as well as one lane on the right side, were for southbound traffic, but drivers thought that only the two left-hand lanes were for Route 95 south. Traffic jammed up as southbound drivers tried to merge into those left-hand lanes.

This time around, Alviti said, the DOT placed more and larger signs with large arrows that included the iconic blue shields of the interstate highway system with 95 emblazoned on them on the overpasses for Orms and Smith streets.

DOT spokesman Charles St. Martin said he spent the past five days aggressively publicizing the change, and his efforts seem to have paid off. DOT officials gave interviews, and the department bought newspaper ads and promoted the new pattern on social media, he said.

"The traffic was better," St. Martin said. "But we're still encouraging folks to drive slowly in the area, drive cautiously in all lanes."

Next week the divider will be moved over one lane, St. Martin said; in that new configuration there will be one Route 95 southbound lane to the left of the divider and two to its right.

— jhill@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7381

On Twitter: @jghilliii