Project aims to beautify state ‘welcome’ sign
Work part of bigger Airport Connector plan
Road construction projects are happening all around the state all the time. There’s the new Interstate 95 North project, the tireless work on the Pell Bridge, and the new roundabout at the Henderson Bridge. You get the idea.
This week for What and Why RI it’s a smaller Rhode Island Department of Transportation project that sparked a question, about a new structure under construction in the grassy area next to I-95.
“What is being built in the intersection of I-95 and the Airport Connector in Warwick?” a What and Why RI reader wrote in to ask, referring specifically to the wall-metal frame that recently went up.
Here’s what we found out.
“For thousands of visitors to Rhode Island, the Airport Connector is Rhode Island’s welcome mat.”
Gov. Dan McKee
What are they building?
The structure is the new Rhode Island sign, welcoming people who just flew in from T.F. Green International Airport and bidding a bon voyage to those about to leave. It’s one part of the bigger Airport Connector Project.
The project included 4 miles of paving — 1 mile on the Airport Connector and 3 miles of Post Road between Coronado Road and Warwick Avenue — and adding high-visibility pavement markers and new sidewalks and eliminating some drop-off areas.
It also beautifies the area, replacing the guardrail with a grass swale and planting more than 400 trees, perennials and shrubs, including Autumn Blaze maples, blue spruce, ginkos, Hummingbird Summersweet bushes, rhododendron and forsythia.
“For thousands of visitors to Rhode Island, the Airport Connector is Rhode Island’s welcome mat,” Gov. Dan McKee said in a press release for the July 2022 groundbreaking. “These improvements will make vital safety improvements while providing a great first impression of our great state.”
How much did the project cost?
The project costs $12.9 million, according to the state.
It’s part of the $92 million allocated to 2022 paving projects by RIDOT in 2022, and a bigger commitment, made in 2022, to spend $492 million over five years to pave “Rhode Island’s worst roads,” as McKee put it.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was one source of funding for the roadwork.
When will the project be done?
The project was originally set to be completed by June 2023 but was delayed.
It should be wrapping up soon, though.
“The project is on track to reach substantial completion by the end of the year, pending fabrication of some signage and the wave concept art,” said RIDOT spokesman Charles St. Martin. “Some of those items may be done over the winter.”
What and Why RI is a weekly feature by The Providence Journal to explore our readers’ curiosity. If you have a question about Rhode Island, big or small, email it to klandeck@gannett.com. She loves a good question.