In January, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) received $81 million in federal funding to establish a new freeway connection between Interstate 95 and Quonset Business Park, south of Providence, which will allow the agency to complete what it calls the "missing move" at the interchange of I-95 and Rhode Island Highway 4.
The construction of two new highway ramps, a new roundabout, and three missing ramps from local roads to R.I. 4 will allow direct travel from the two roadways in all directions.
According to the Quonset Development Corp. (QDC), the 3,200-acre business and industrial park is home to more than 200 companies and 13,000 jobs within the state. In addition, the complex employs "one of every six manufacturing jobs in Rhode Island," according to the state's Public Transportation Authority.
Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Jack Reed characterized the construction as a "forward-looking investment in growing Rhode Island's economy," in an email to the Brown Daily Herald, published by journalism students at Providence's Brown University.
Reed added that the "missing move will also improve traffic flow and help thousands of Rhode Islanders get to and from work quicker and more efficiently" as well as keep trucks off local roads in North Kingstown.
According to RIDOT, the new freeway connection will enable vehicles to drive faster than 50 mph by 2057 in places where, without the new road, traffic congestion would force them to travel at speeds of only 10-30 mph.
Public Transit Once Seen as Better Option
In prior years, state officials have worked to expand transportation options into the area. For instance, in 2019, the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) launched a free pilot bus program from Providence's Kennedy Plaza to Quonset Business Park.
At the same time, from 2019 until June 2022, the Quonset Express, better known as the Route Qx bus, ran free of charge for workers within the city was intended to be an accessible and affordable way of reaching Quonset Park, according to RIPTA.
Since then, however, RIPTA has identified the route as low performing and plans to eliminate the service. From September 2022 to August 2023, only about five passengers rode Route Qx per trip, wrote Cristy Raposo Perry, the transit agency's director of communications and public outreach, in an email to the Daily Herald.
She attributed the service cut to RIPTA's driver shortages.
"Since transit plays such a vital role in the lives of individuals and communities throughout Rhode Island, RIPTA would much prefer to expand rather than diminish the service it provides," Perry noted. "The labor shortage, which is affecting transit agencies nationwide, has a direct impact on the level of service that RIPTA can provide."
The transit authority has conducted "extensive recruitment efforts," she said, but drivers are retiring at a quicker rate than RIPTA can replace them.
RIDOT Believes Connection Will Result in Reduced Emissions
In general, using public transportation reduces greenhouse gas emissions, according to the state transportation department. Despite the elimination of the bus route, RIDOT estimates that its "missing move" project between I-95 and R.I. 4 will reduce approximately 500 metric tons of greenhouse gases per year, according to an agency press release.
In November, RIDOT published its Carbon Reduction Strategy, which made it eligible to receive over $35.7 million in federal funding to use on carbon-cutting projects in line with the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Carbon Reduction Program.
The proposed freeway connecting I-95 and Quonset Business Park is one such project that RIDOT said will address "carbon emissions by means of congestion reduction."
Such projects in the state include an "additional $6.3 million for upgrades to signals in ‘congested corridors' and $4 million for a bridge overpass — out of $15.8 million total for congestion management," the Daily Herald previously reported.
Emily Koo, a 2013 Brown University graduate and currently a senior policy advocate and Rhode Island program director at the Acadia Center, believes that increasing public transportation within the state is one solution to carbon emissions.
She expressed disappointment that Route Qx is going to be eliminated.
"Fully connecting the entire state to the employment center of the Quonset Business Park must be tackled not only through a more direct connection to I-95, but also through frequent, reliable public transportation," Koo explained. "Rhode Island's transportation sector is not on track to meeting its proportionate Act on Climate mandates to reduce emissions 45 percent by 2030 and to reach net zero emissions by 2050."
RIDOT has not yet disclosed when construction to build the freeway connection from I-95 to Quonset Business Park is scheduled to begin, but David Preston, a spokesperson for QDC, acknowledges that these types of projects take time to become successful.
"The bedrock of success [in Rhode Island] is the infrastructure," he told the Daily Herald. "It's not something that's done in one shot. It's a multi-year, step by step, thoughtful approach to building up your infrastructure. This is one more brick in that process."
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