Forced Diet
A new road configuration on a busy stretch just south of the airport in Warwick has drawn mixed reaction from those along the route, with some longtime residents saying a new center turn lane is leading to massive traffic backups at peak times. And, that it’s not slowing down speeding motorists once they break the logjam. Jim Hummel found out that the Rhode Island DOT is using this new configuration – called a road diet - in many parts of the state.
WARWICK – A new road configuration on a busy stretch just south of the airport has drawn mixed reaction from those along the route, with some longtime residents saying a new center turn lane is leading to massive traffic backups at peak times.
The Rhode Island Department of Transportation says that Main Avenue, which for years had two lanes on each side of a double yellow line, is a dangerous road with speeding motorists that has led to numerous accidents. And the DOT is creating what it calls a “road diet” – taking away a travel lane on each side and creating a center turn lane to siphon traffic off to side streets.
“They’re going to cripple the city of Warwick,” said Joseph Marzilli Jr., who has lived on Main Avenue for 65 years. “I still don’t see the point. At 5 o’clock at night you come down Main Avenue, once you go by the airport runway it’s a logjam going from the two lanes to one lane.”
While the traffic backups are a byproduct of the new configuration, the DOT says the intention is to slow down drivers - and removal of a lane on each side of the road accomplishes that objective.
“The center lane provides a refuge for left-turning vehicles to get out of the through lanes,” DOT Spokesman Charles St. Martin said in an email exchange with The Hummel Report.
“The city is supportive of road diets to improve safety and to make it easier for residents to turn into driveways and side streets.”
But not all the people who live along the route agree with the city’s assessment.
Warwick is just the latest place the state has implemented the new configuration. The DOT provided a spreadsheet of nearly 30 projects of varying length, in more than a dozen communities dating back two decades.
“The Federal Highway Administration has classified road diets as a proven safety countermeasure, meaning studies across the country have shown that they enhance safety,” St. Martin said.
The Main Avenue stretch – six-tenths of a mile from Warwick Industrial Drive to West Shore Road – carries an estimated 27,000 vehicles a day. The reconfiguration is part of a $102-million project that began in early 2025 and includes road resurfacing and the replacement of two deficient bridges in nearby parts of the city. DOT is analyzing how the reconfiguration is working on the southeastern section of Main Avenue and won’t make a final decision on whether to make it permanent until fall.
Contractors have largely completed pouring new sidewalks on the eastbound side of the road and will be working on the westbound side this month.
Opinions of the new traffic pattern vary widely, depending on where people live along the route.
“You’ll get different opinions up and down the road but for us it’s much better,” said Brian McAuslin, whose house is several hundred feet from a traffic light at Buttonwoods Avenue that allows him to leave his driveway easily when there is a red light. “It slows everything down and makes it easier for us,” he added.
McAuslin, who has lived in his house for nearly 30 years, said the previous configuration made it harder to get in and out of his driveway.
“When I came down this road, when it had two lanes on each side and I wanted to turn into my driveway, the people in the lefthand lane were right on my butt even though I put my directional on. This is so much better now, I can go into (the center turn lane) and just sit,” McAuslin said.
“It’s not horrible,” said Bob Davis, who lives across the street, adding that the jury is out as to whether it will slow the traffic down on Main Avenue. “It seems like it might be doing that. People have a tendency to want to race when the light turns.”
Marzilli agrees, saying the new configuration is not slowing down motorists: once they get beyond the bottleneck, they whiz by his house and he’s seen some vehicles get in the turn lane several hundred yards before needing to, causing several near misses with drivers coming the other way in the same turn lane.
Davis acknowledged the main problem is traffic backing up from the traffic light at West Shore Road and motorists often having to wait for several changes of the light along the route.
Several hundred yards to the southwest of Davis, Jayden and Alexandra DeCosta have watched the project unfold this year. It included removal of a huge tree in front of their house by DOT to allow for installation of new sidewalks.
The state paid homeowners for the hassle of tearing up the sidewalks in front of their houses and occasionally having equipment on their lawn. We found the payments averaged $600 to $1000.
“Now our energy bill has skyrocketed because that got rid of all of the of the shade,” Alexandra DeCosta said. “It’s all sunlight and it’s been really hot this summer.”
Jayden DeCosta has watched the transformation of the traffic pattern in front of his house over the past two months. “Don’t love it – it’s hard to pull out, especially (late afternoon). I see people slamming on the brakes ahead because there’s no warning that there’s a merge. Maybe there is, but not one that’s good enough for everybody to see.”
And he’s not sure a center lane is going to solve the speeding problem. ““The people who were speeding down the street are now just speeding down the street in the turning lane,” DeCosta said.
Everyone we spoke with said they heard nothing from the city or state about potential changes, until DOT contacted them about “renting their property.” St. Martin said DOT “has coordinated extensively with city officials, including the department of public works, city engineer and mayor’s office about the entire project.”
What about the city reaching out? “The project was a trial run so there was no outreach (with the public) done ahead of time,” said Elizabeth Tufts, a spokeswoman for Mayor Frank Picozzi. “Before a decision is made as to whether it will be permanent, we will ask for feedback from the community.”
DOT installed a similar road diet several years ago on another section of Main Avenue from just west of Jefferson Boulevard to Greenwich Avenue and says after some early opposition, residents largely liked the new configuration – something echoed by the mayor’s office.
“When the northern end was put on a lane diet there was some initial complaints, but after a period of time feedback was very positive,” Tufts said.
Mary and Gene Benedetti have lived on a side street just off Main Avenue west of Jefferson Boulevard for 35 years and said there used to be some bad accidents.
“I like it. I find much easier to get in and out of our street,” Mary Benedetti said of the new configuration.
Gene Benedetti added that it was tough getting on to Main Avenue before with two lanes on each side because most people were speeding and not slowing down to let in merging cars. He predicted the people on the eastern end will like the new pattern once they get used to it.
Marzilli is skeptical and believes the decision to make it permanent has already been made, despite what the city and the DOT say. “I haven’t talked with anyone in the city about it. You can’t reach the mayor.”
His suggestion: “Go back to a four-lane road. This is all well and good because people avoid coming down Main Avenue now to stay away from this, but once they do the other roads, they’re literally bottlenecking this part of Warwick. There won’t be any way to get out of here.
“You’re inconveniencing the people who live on these roads, who can’t get out of their driveways in the morning because the traffic is so backed up,” Marzilli added. “You’ve got more people on the road today than you had 20 years ago. You’re going to bottleneck traffic to slow everyone down. Put cops out there, give out tickets, put up radar, put up speed traps, do something. Just not this.”
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