Comments on: 195 Street Grid Part 2: Walk Light FAIL in Davol Square

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 07:14:53 +0000

This intersection would have been put to better use if we got rid of the traffic light all together. Instead, lets replace it with a landscaped roundabout, perhaps paying some homage for the public square it is named for.

This option would reduce traffic speeds, increase safety, provide street-scape beautification, and eliminate the need to run power utilities for a signal.

By: Jef Nickerson

Jef Nickerson — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:53:44 +0000

I was in Davol Square on Thursday. No changes here, walk lights still not on, sidewalks still incomplete.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:17:36 +0000

Marc,

Thanks for the clarification about that second lane and traffic entering from the parking lot, since I don’t drive a car through there, just bike through it at hours when people aren’t generally going in or out of the lots (7-7:30 AM, 4:30-5PM, weekends), I hadn’t seen that.

By: Marc Doughty

Marc Doughty — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:52:25 +0000

Matt, that second lane is crucial if you’re one of the several hundred people who work at Davol who turn eastbound from the parking lot to leave the building. Without it, I’d have to wait for rush-hour traffic to clear on both sides before I could leave (which could take several minutes per-car), or I would have to go through downtown instead of just hopping over the bridge (which would add traffic to downtown’s rush-hour).

Also, the bridge itself is two lanes eastbound so through-traffic bound for Wickenden doesn’t get crammed-in with people lining-up for the 195 onramp.

I don’t have much -good- to say about the Point St./Wickenden stretch from Service Road 7 to Hope St., but those two things are ‘a good thing’, it’s a little late to cut a lane out of the already-built bridge (and to what end? there are safe walkways that accommodate bikes on each side, assuming they’re plowed).

What really bothers me is the section of Point St. under the old 195 and the whole turnaround/offramp/onramp thing, I think it just takes up too much space, confuses drivers, and puts pedestrians in danger. I’ll be glad to see that mess go.

Also, Eddy St. and Point St. is a disaster for pedestrians. There should be a law about finishing one project before starting another. I have a feeling I’ll be seeing snow fall on the unfinished sidewalks on the ‘Hess’ side of Davol this winter.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:06:49 +0000

Oh, no, RIDOT wants to make the Wickenden intersection better by having pedestrians cross traffic three or four times to get all the way across and walk down that center island of green tranquility.

In looking at the Point Street portion of the above intersection, why are there 2 eastbound lanes from Davol Square toward the bridge? There is never more than one lane of traffic feeding onto that street…

By: Double P

Double P — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:58:11 +0000

Work in Davol Square, have tried in vain to get DOT to notice, and do something.

Also a horror the way people right-on-red off Eddy onto Point – many don’t stop and look. They just roll along – and we’re in crosswalk. Amazing.

Thanks for shedding light on a dangerous situation – maybe this will help the City and State to notice? If not, they might notice when someone gets mowed down in the not-too distant future.