Newport Pell Bridge
The Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge in Newport, Rhode Island, United States, a suspension bridge that connects Newport and Jamestown, crossing the Narragansett Bay. It was built in 1969 and is featured on the reverse of the Rhode Island quarter. CC-BY-SA-3.0/Matt H. Wade at Wikipedia Matt H. Wade - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:UpstateNYer Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Credit: CC-BY-SA-3.0/Matt H. Wade at Wikipedia / Matt H. Wade

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) and Rhode Island Turnpike & Bridge Authority (RITBA) have announced upcoming travel advisories for Newport County from May 11 to May 18, 2024.

In Newport, there will be alternating lane closures on Route 138 East, up to Admiral Kalbfus Rd., including the roundabout and JT Connell Highway toward Van Zandt and America’s Cup avenues, and Route 138 West back toward the Pell Bridge. These closures will occur from Sunday to Thursday nights, from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., through May 24.

During the daytime, there will be minimal traffic impacts in Newport as crews work on maintenance of drainage swales, installation of loam and seed sitewide, and miscellaneous work on the newly installed traffic cabinets and lighting signals.

In Middletown, Rte. 138A (Aquidneck Ave.) will have alternating one-way traffic from Newport Ave. to Purgatory Rd. from Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., for wheelchair ramp installation.

All schedules are weather-dependent and subject to change.

In addition to the RIDOT advisories, RITBA has announced nightly lane closures for the Newport Claiborne Pell Bridge.

On the Newport Pell Bridge, there will be nightly lane shifts from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. from May 12 to May 16 to prepare for opening two lanes of traffic in both directions.

There are currently no lane closures planned for the Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge, Route 138 Connector, Mount Hope Bridge, or Sakonnet River Bridge.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) assisted a What’sUpNewp journalist with the reporting included in this story.

Ryan Belmore is the owner and publisher of What's Up Newp. He took over the publication in 2012 and has grown it into a three-time Rhode Island Monthly Best Local News Blog (2018, 2019, 2020). He was named LION Publishers Member of the Year in 2020 and received the Dominique Award from the Arts & Cultural Society of Newport County the same year. He has been awarded grants for investigative and community journalism, and continues to coach and mentor new local news publications nationwide. Ryan...

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