Travel Advisory: Resurfacing Scheduled to Begin October 4 for Main Avenue in Warwick

Road diet on eastern end of Main Avenue to remain permanently

Beginning on Sunday night, October 4, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) is scheduled to begin milling and paving on Main Avenue (Route 113) in Warwick. The work will begin at the intersection with Greenwich Avenue (Route 5) and proceed eastward to the intersection with West Shore Road (Route 117).

As part of the resurfacing, RIDOT will be permanently installing the road diet it installed this summer between Warwick Industrial Drive and West Shore Road (Route 117). RIDOT decided to make the new traffic configuration permanent based on feedback from City of Warwick officials. A similar road diet was installed on the western section, between Greenwich Avenue and Jefferson Boulevard, in 2022. It too will be reinstalled following paving. Milling and paving should take about one month to complete.

A road diet involves converting an existing four-lane road to three lanes, with one travel lane in each direction and a center, two-way left-turn lane. The center lane makes it easier to make left turns into homes, businesses and side streets, and provides a refuge for vehicles to get out of the through lanes while waiting to make a turn. Road diets are a proven safety countermeasure used by DOTs across the country to reduce traffic speeds and crashes. Studies have shown that crashes within road diets are reduced by upwards of 40 percent.

Milling and paving operations will take place Sunday through Thursday nights from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. Drivers can expect one-lane alternating traffic patterns and lane shifts. For brief periods of time, there may be detours at cross streets when asphalt is being placed at those intersections with Main Avenue. Flaggers and police officers will be onsite to assist with traffic flow. RIDOT will make every effort to maintain full access to properties along Main Avenue during paving.

These improvements are part of the $102.4 million Warwick Corridor Project. RIDOT is improving several important corridors and intersections, with bridge replacements, paving, sidewalk work, ADA accessibility, new traffic signal upgrades, and new pedestrian crossing and other safety features. Specifically, in addition to Main Avenue, RIDOT will pave sections of East Avenue, Route 2 (Bald Hill Road), West Shore Road and Post Road. More information on this project is available at www.ridot.net/WarwickCorridor.

All construction projects are subject to changes in schedule and scope depending on needs, circumstances, findings, and weather.