South Water Street changes pushed back as city talks with business owners
(WJAR) — NBC 10 has learned a controversial plan to update the traffic pattern on South Water Street near the Providence Pedestrian Bridge has been pushed back while the City talks with business owners who say they were blindsided by the project—at least until next week.
“We are still in talks with stakeholders and expect to have finalized adjustments soon,” Timothy Rondeau, Director of Communications for the Department of Planning and Development, told NBC 10 in an email.
Work to sawcut sidewalks for bus islands, as well as sidewalk ramp work, was supposed to begin Thursday. The larger project would narrow South Water Street from two lanes down to one, while creating a dedicated bike lane with a divider. No parking spaces would be lost, Rondeau said.
But business owners, especially restaurants, say they depend on both lanes of the street to get customers, employees, and deliveries in and out every day.
"We already have congestion and traffic,” said Brian Kingsford, owner of Bacaro restaurant. "Let's do a better study. Let's figure this out before you just drop it on us."
Kingsford and other business owners are asking the City to do an updated traffic study after Labor Day, when students at Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design will have returned to the neighborhood, along with some workers heading back to the office after working remotely.
"We want a bike path down here. It's great. We just see other alternatives to where it could be put, without closing a lane,” Kingsford said.
But as of Thursday, the City didn’t plan to do another traffic count before starting construction.
“We conducted automated traffic counts during the first week of March 2020 (prior to the start of the pandemic) and in July 2021 as well as manual counts this month,” Rondeau told NBC 10 in an email. “We also plan to monitor traffic post-construction and make adjustments if needed.”
Kingsford and other business owners said they weren’t aware of the City’s plan for South Water Street until the work was almost ready to begin. The City says neighbors and businesses were notified by mail and email, and public meetings were held via Zoom for more than a year.
Some neighbors told NBC 10 they’re disappointed to learn about the delay.
"There's many people biking in the area because it's a beautiful area,” said Sam Salganik, who lives nearby and supports the redesign project for South Water Street. "I actually have three young kids, and we bike there regularly."
Salganik and other supporters say the project wouldn’t just create a safer space for bikes—it would also deter cars, motorbikes, and ATV’s who use the street as an illegal racetrack.
“At night, it's become a hot spot for drag racing,” Salganik said.
Videos obtained by NBC 10 show vehicles racing down the street late at night.
Kingsford believes there’s a way to add a bike lane by using space available in the park area near the water, rather than reducing a travel lane for cars.
As for the street racing?
"I don't think it will solve it. Even if you reduce it to a lane of traffic, they will be on the bike path, and they will be on the main road because that's the thrill of it,” he said.
