EAST PROVIDENCE — In response to neighborhood residents, the East Providence Department of Public Works has announced a traffic restriction for a notable Rumford road.
Effective Monday, May 8, DPW will install “Do Not Enter” signs on Pleasant Street at its intersection with Pawtucket Avenue. The signs will restrict traffic from traveling north onto Pleasant Street towards Newman Avenue at this location.
The alteration was proposed following a community meeting hosted by city administrators and Ward 1 Councilman Bobby Britto in mid April.
The purpose of the pattern change, according to the DPW, is to eliminate the excessive cut-through traffic experienced by the residents at the entry point off Pawtucket Avenue.
The move is permanent. Officials said it was not made in response to the on-going Newman Avenue Bridge construction, which is expected to last through spring of 2019, but rather because of the long-standing unease of residents at the corner of Pleasant Street.
"(The bridge construction) was not a factor. It's kind of been an issue with residents in the neighborhood forever, for a long time, DPW Director Steve Coutu said.
From Pawtucket Avenue north, the first available access to Pleasant Street by taking a right-hand turn is Miller Street, which raises its own amount of concerns, Mr. Coutu conceded. He said the hopeful outcome of the change is to keep a majority of motorists on Pawtucket Avenue all the way up until they reach its intersection with Newman Avenue.
"A lot of drivers from Massachusetts, especially, use Pleasant Street as a cut-through," Mr. Coutu said. "It's also going to affect people who live farther down Pleasant Street. But what we're trying to do with this is keep most people on the main road. But traffic is like water, it tends to follow the path of least resistance, so we'll be keeping an eye on it.”
Storage project update
The $19 million water storage/system repair project in Kent Heights is in the final stages of completion. Construction of the new 6 million gallon storage tank is done as is the building of a chlorination treatment station at the site. Mr. Coutu said contractors are doing final cleanup of the location and adding aesthetic touches such as planting trees to enhance the site.
Tower painting update
Mr. Coutu said the bid process for repairing and repainting the landmark water tower at Kent Heights was scheduled to begin this week. Previously, the city council approved up to $2.5 million to make the necessary interior and exterior improvements to the two-decade-old structure.