Travel Advisory: Road Diet Coming to Section of Main Avenue in Warwick Starting July 10

As part of its ongoing Warwick Corridor project, on Friday night, July 10, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) is scheduled to institute changes for a road diet on Main Avenue (Route 113) in Warwick. The road will be restriped with one lane in each direction, with a center turn lane, from Warwick Industrial Drive to West Shore Road (Route 117).

This new road diet will be installed on a temporary basis as a trial for motorists to get used to the lane configuration. Working in coordination with the City of Warwick, RIDOT will determine whether to make the road diet permanent this fall.

Road diets are most often put in place to address issues with speeding, crashes and narrow lanes along busy roadways, like Main Avenue. They involve converting an existing four-lane road to three lanes, with one travel lane in each direction and a center, two-way left-turn lane. Studies have shown that crashes within road diets are reduced by upwards of 40 percent.

Along this stretch of Main Avenue from 2018 to 2022, the Department found there had been 157 crashes, 46 of which resulted in injuries. RIDOT has installed road diets in several locations across the state.

RIDOT installed a similar road diet on Main Avenue, between Greenwich Avenue (Route 5) and Jefferson Boulevard, in October 2022.

This traffic change is part of the $102.4 million Warwick Corridor Project. RIDOT is improving several important corridors and intersections, with bridge replacements, paving, sidewalk work, ADA accessibility, new traffic signal upgrades, and new pedestrian crossing and other safety features. Specifically, RIDOT will pave sections of East Avenue, Route 2 (Bald Hill Road), Main Avenue, West Shore Road and Post Road. More information on this project is available at www.ridot.net/WarwickCorridor.

All construction projects are subject to changes in schedule and scope depending on needs, circumstances, findings, and weather.