Overview:
RIDOT is proposing a roundabout on East Main Road in Portsmouth. Some of the residents there are not very happy about it.
There’s a lot of talk about roundabouts lately.
The new roundabout at the Henderson Bridge connecting East Providence and the East Side of Providence has gotten much attention lately from frustrated and angry drivers. Many argue there’s not enough signage to direct the flow of traffic.
Portsmouth Town Administrator Richard Rainer was at a meeting last week that lasted more than four hours as people shared their anger about a proposed roundabout in front of Clements Market on East Main Road. He spoke with Morning Host Luis Hernandez about resident concerns.
TRANSCRIPT:
This transcript has been edited.
Richard Rainer: I think the overarching concern really, from what I heard, is that business owners are worried that the construction phase would impact their revenues. You know, I think DOT’s answer to that has been any construction there would impact entrances and egress from the businesses. And of course, during the construction phase they try to mitigate that as much as possible. So I get it, it’s change.
Obviously, it would have an effect on traffic flow while it’s being constructed or while it’s being repaved; whatever ends up happening down here. But that’s what happens. It’s an area of the town that needs to be addressed at some point and it has not been paved in many, many, many years. And there are improvements that need to be made.
Luis Hernandez: What is it about these roundabouts that make them better?
Rainer: It promotes traffic flow without coming to a stop. So if you come to the intersection and the roundabout is clear and there’s an entrance, you just proceed along your way. So in that way, it promotes traffic flow. But of course, you have to slow down when you approach a roundabout, so that helps people slow down. Now, other people would argue that the same thing is done with a traffic light. Their concern is East Main Road is a very heavily trafficked road with a very significant rush hour increase in vehicles morning and afternoon.
So I think one of the things that people are concerned about is, as that queue of traffic is entering the roundabout in the morning rush hour or the afternoon rush hour, that would preclude people from getting in the roundabout from the other entrances to the roundabout. I would have to defer to the engineers on that. They’ve obviously looked at the average daily vehicle load. They’ve looked at the size of the roundabout. I think that would be a better question for DOT.
Hernandez: If something’s new, as you know, people will need time to adjust. But you’ll probably get people complaining at first because anything that’s new is not easy.
Rainer: Yeah. That’s if the project even moves forward. I just don’t know if the project is even still going to be on the books because of the opposition that’s been expressed in Portsmouth. The council has not come out for or against it yet. But let’s say that the project moves forward. I don’t think that there’s anything that we do at a municipal level that changes the way things are where it doesn’t come with a requirement that you have to communicate and you have to be prepared to address people’s concerns. It just comes with the territory. I’m used to it.
Luis Hernandez can be reached at lhernandez@thepublicsradio.org.
