Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) officials said completion of the Gano Street Realignment Project in Providence addresses traffic flow issues and opens new recreational avenues for residents.
The $3.2 million project was substantially late last year, eight months ahead of schedule, on budget, and having reached full completion this spring.
“This project not only corrects a traffic flow problem but also creates new recreational opportunities for all Providence residents,” RIDOT Director Peter Alviti, Jr. said. “We have added to the Blackstone River Bikeway in a way that makes it much safer than the old bike route on Gano Street. And it gives bikers and walkers access to the park, to ball fields, and, in time, to a new brewery. It is truly an amenity for all people.”
RIDOT said the scope of work involved reconstructing portions of India Street and Gano Street to realign and straighten the intersection, which corrected a sharp curve on India Street where it met Gano Street.
The old curve was a temporary traffic pattern created during the construction of the I-195 Relocation/Iway and Washington Bridge Eastbound projects in the 2000s. RIDOT identified funding via RhodeWorks to complete the realignment.
A 0.2-mile extension of the Blackstone River Bikeway will replace a bike route on Gano Street. It connects the bikeway section along the Seekonk River RIDOT opened in 2017 with India Point Park, the Hilton Garden Inn, the new Narragansett Beer brewery, now under construction, and other India Point Park features.