With a three-lane shift on the Washington Bridge starting on Saturday, Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee wants drivers to slow down and avoid distractions.
McKee was joined by other state and local leaders for a press conference on Friday to discuss the expanded effort to reduce accidents on the bridge.
The governor says the goal is to keep Rhode Islanders safe and get them where they need to go with the least amount of delay possible. He says that includes reducing the speed limit on the bridge to 40 miles per hour, avoiding switching lanes, and most importantly, staying alert and off cell phones.
“It’s tempting when you are sitting in traffic to take out that cell phone to check your texts. But it means you aren’t paying attention to your surroundings, and it means you are more likely to cause an accident that not only affects you, but the many hundreds of cars around you,” McKee said.
The expanded effort comes after the state has taken steps to reduce the time it takes to clear accidents on the bridge. The state says that the time to clear the bridge has dropped from 30 minutes to 21 minutes. That was accomplished by staging tow trucks along the route and ramping up police presence on the bridge.
The addition of a third lane on the westbound side of the Washington Bridge should also help reduce accidents. The new third lane will shift traffic from two to three lanes, eliminating some of the choke points where drivers have had to merge from three to two lanes.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) assisted a What’sUpNewp journalist with the reporting included in this story.
