In response to questions posed by Middletown Town Councilors and members of the public, a Briefing Book titled “East Main Road Road Diet” has been released in advance of a Public Hearing called by the Middletown Town Council for tomorrow, Monday, April 15th, 2024, 6:30 pm at Middletown Town Hall, 350 East Main Road, Middletown, RI 02840The Briefing Book is prepared by the Ride Island initiative team, which includes Bike Newport, Grow Smart RI, Toole Design, and the van Beuren Charitable Foundation, and can be accessed at www.rideisland.org.
As per the Council Agenda, the Middletown Town Council will hold a Public Hearing “on the Proposed East Main Road Configuration modifying the current four (4) lane configuration to a three (3) lane road – one lane of travel north on East Main Road and one lane of travel south, bisected by a center turn lane.”
This lane configuration, referred to as a Road Diet, is a priority safety design recommended by the Federal Highway Administration to reduce crashes and improve safety for all road users.
With the Road Diet’s center turning lane, crashes on East Main Road can be expected to fall by almost 50%, and the resulting roadway shoulder will provide dramatic safety improvements for people who walk, ride a bike, and access bus service on East Main Road.
The request to consider implementing a Road Diet at the time of repaving was brought to the Council in a letter dated February 25, 2024, by Bari Freeman, Executive Director of Bike Newport, representing Ride Island, the initiative to advance active transportation on Aquidneck Island. Freeman explained “The Briefing Book provides answers to questions that the Council and public have asked in the two Council meetings that followed that letter, and since. We hope it will help to inform the public discussion.”
Lucy Gibson, Principal Engineer from Ride Island’s partner firm Toole Design, presented to the Middletown Town Council on April 1st. She explains, “Our engineers have been working with RIDOT and their consultants to review and update the road data and models, and to confirm that East Main Road is a candidate for this inherently safer road design.”
The upcoming repaving of East Main Road provides an opportunity to implement these changes at no additional cost, so the Ride Island team is encouraging the Town to request these safety improvements in the collective best interest of local residents and businesses.
The public is encouraged to read the Briefing document for answers to many questions, and to attend the Public Hearing on Monday to share their opinions with the Council.
Source: Bike Newport