PROVIDENCE – State officials on Friday all but begged drivers to slow down, put down their phones, and stay in their lanes as they navigate new traffic patterns on the Washington Bridge.
Crashes have spiked since the westbound side of the bridge was closed on Dec. 11, 2023, forcing traffic in both directions onto temporary lanes on the eastbound side. Before the closure, there was about one crash a day. Now there are two or three, putting safety at risk and adding to traffic delays.
“Most of them were minor fender-benders that could be avoided,” Governor Dan McKee said at a State House news conference in Providence, asking motorists for a “reset” in their driving behaviors.
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The new public awareness campaign comes as the state makes more changes to the part of the bridge that remains open. Already the state has opened a third lane through Interstate 195 on the eastbound side. Friday night into Saturday, crews were expected to work to open a new lane on the westbound side, too.
That, the state says, will help improve traffic flow through the highway. It will also mean people have to drive more slowly, because the temporary lanes are narrower than standard highway lanes. The speed limit there is now 40 miles per hour.
“By remaining focused on the road, we can mitigate the risk of crashes, ensure our safety and contribute to the seamless flow of traffic during these challenging circumstances,” said State Police Colonel Darnell Weaver.
Some of the challenges of the new lane setup will temper the additional capacity that new lanes are actually able to add. Trucks are supposed to stay in the right hand lane, which will be the widest of the three. Signs have already gone up warning truckers to stay in the right lane. But on the already-open eastbound side, compliance has been uneven. Trucks coming from Interstate 95 south to Interstate 195 east may have a hard time getting over to the rightmost lane during rush hour, because they’ll be merging onto the highway from the left, and only have a short span to make it over. The new pattern also means cars coming on the highway from South Water Street eastbound no longer have a dedicated lane to merge onto the highway, leading to more backups on the local feeder roads.
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The Rhode Island Department of Transportation, for its part, said it’s seen a favorable effect so far in the early going, particularly in the area where Interstate 95 merges into Interstate 195, said Director Peter Alviti.
Also Friday, the state said it would start work Sunday on repaving both sides of the highway. The eastbound side in particular has some rough patches.
Additional repaving and striping means overnight work will reduce the number of travel lanes between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. for two weeks, the state said, but traffic would at no point be entirely halted.
The westbound side of the bridge closed on Dec. 11 when engineers found major structural defects. The eastbound side where all traffic has been diverted is actually a separate and much newer structure. The replacement of the westbound side is expected to take two years or more, state officials say.
See more coverage of the Washington Bridge closure.
Brian Amaral can be reached at brian.amaral@globe.com. Follow him @bamaral44.