November 15, 2012

Memorial Blvs

NEWPORT – State crews have re-striped Memorial Boulevard, narrowing the heavily trafficked roadway on the westbound lane from two lanes to one, and installing bike lanes in both directions.

The work, which was pushed by Rep. Peter Martin and Bike Newport in an effort to make the road safer for pedestrians and cyclists, caused traffic to clog up on the Middletown side of Easton's Beach as motorists adjusted to the new pattern.

The redesign is part of a broader plan for Memorial Boulevard that was presented during a public forum back in August.

The improvements were announced following the death of a bicyclist who was struck by a car while travelling in the westbound lane earlier this summer.

November 15, 2012

Comments (23)

Comment Feed

about time

as an avid biker I commute to work on my bike everyday all year long and do longer rides on the week ends. I avoided Memorial Blvd at all costs 99% of the drivers were doing double the posted 25 mph speed limit, it was a race track/ freeway not a city street with mixed use designation.
i think what the state has done is a good start with minimal cost. Future improvements for both walkers bikers and car traffic SHOULD include
- traffic lights at Eustis/ Memorial and Rhode Island/Memorial
- the side walk going from Bellevue to the Beach should be half again as wide.
- Americas Cup should be rethought with bike lanes.
an excellet example of a town that has taken its narrow 4 lanes roads and made wide 2 lane roads with turning lanes where needed and excellent pedestrian sidewalks is Cambridge Mass. take a look at it on google maps/earth or go take a walk around.
I sure hope this is a start and not the finish of pedestrian/ bike improvements. image a bike path that could take you from 1st beach through town and upthe old railway to Berma road.

Biker 174 days ago

Safer, more active public

The change to one westbound lane has the primary result of making the road safer. It's time to stop viewing bicyclists as a fringe group and start of thinking of the term as describing any one of us or our family members who choose to climb on a bike. The change makes for a safer public and encourages more people to venture down that way on two wheels. Travel the country and you will see plenty of examples of space being made for bicycling, jogging, roller-blading and the resulting usage by the public. It's good for us to get out and use these lanes, safely.

John 175 days ago

No Break

Tried to cross the boulevard today at Rhode Island Ave and there wasn't a break in the flow of traffic for quite awhile.
Just think that it is only the end of November and not the heat of July when traffic is at its hight.

Stray Motorist 175 days ago

Just the facts

Why didn't they put the bike path (put your favorite alternate location here, next to the pond, on the sidewalk, anywhere but here)?

Because bicycles are vehicles and belong on the road. If you're over 13 in Newport it's illegal to ride them elsewhere. At the cost of slowing the over 50 mph crowd down to legal speeds, the new striping has made it safer for cyclists by providing more room on the street, where a cyclist has every right to be.

It's not rocket science that there's no slow down when a one lane road stays one lane. And the new alignment provides the same amount of room for turning lanes as existed before. If only the complainers would get out of their cars and onto a bicycle...

Concerned Taxpayer 176 days ago

98398

why didn't they make a bike path between the road and the big pond?

Chmn 177 days ago

Let's be real...

If you are a true newporter, then you know to stay away from that area in the summer if you aren't going to the beach. Also, you would know that the backroads of Newport are the quickest way to get anywhere in the summer and this area can be easily avoided. Find something else to B#$@% about, lord knows there are plenty when it comes to allocating tax funds in Newport.

Mr Obvious 179 days ago

Distracted

It will only be a problem going west when people are sight seeing,on the phone,and or not paying attention like most of the time when coming into town on a busy summer day.

Tom 181 days ago

Amazing

Let's look at this realistically. If it's four miles across town from work to home, and your average speed goes from a speeding 35 to a legal 25, your commute goes from 7 minutes or so to 10. If you're down to 15 mph, you'll be on the road all of 16 minutes.

It's hard to feel any empathy for people that get all upset over a fifteen minute drive home. And by the way, the word genius has an "i" in it.

Concerned Taxpayer 181 days ago

Bike Lanes

They did this on Blackstone Boulevard under the cover of darkness and it was an accident waiting to happen. Making Turnpike Avenue in Portsmouth one lane hasn't made driving better - they still pass on the right and exceed the speed limit.
So many other things to be done on the island.

Maura 182 days ago

Bike lanes

Wait till the genus that came up with this plan uses Memorial Blvd. this summer. Welcome to NP.

gordon 183 days ago

The Jenkster: there's only one bike lane

To The Jenkster - there is only one bike lane in each direction. One lane going east and one lane going west.

SHS 183 days ago

bike lanes

If you build it - they will come!
The point of adding a bike lane and reducing the amount of car lanes is so that people will get on a bike instead of in their car. You don't like traffic? Keep your car parked, move your butt and pedal a bycicle.

SHS 183 days ago

Why two bike lanes ...crazy?

Why two bike lanes ...crazy? ..is there that much bike traffic?...there is enough room just to add a lane!

The Jenkster 183 days ago

Mad Dash

Can you say pedicab.

Clavin 184 days ago

I wish Providence would do some of this.

I'm so excited every time I see places in Rhode Island doing things to make biking safer. I wish that Providence would follow up and do a lot more, too.

We have a few unconnected, random bike lanes that don't really form a network of any kind in Providence. Mayor Taveras is having an engineering team look at improving that situation, but I'm still holding my breath until I see the results. A lot of the current bike lanes are designed so that they're so close to the parked cars as to put bikers in danger of being "doored". It will be a welcome thing if we go the direction that Newport went and realize that we have to take a parking lane or traffic lane out every once and a while in order to create a place to safely ride.

James Kennedy 184 days ago

Less Roadway = More Traffic

I respectfully disagree with Pat and Tom G. The new turning lanes that they have created on the westbound side of Memorial are very short lanes. On a busy "beach day" all it will take is 3-4 cars making a left turn to enter Easton's beach and then the turning lane will be filled and cars will start to clog the single west-bound lane. Same goes for Memorial as you start to head up the hill. If the short turning lane gets filled with more than 3 cars that are trying to make a left or U-turn at Gibbs, then the entire westbound portion of Memorial gets blocked. And the problem with Tom G's hose analogy is that he overlooks the fact that the existing "hose" was just made 50% smaller. Obviously, time will tell if this will work but given how bad traffic is in town, I can't imagine how reducing the usable westbound roadway by 50% in that area is going to do anything but create traffic problems. Seems like they should have kept 2 lanes and also added a bike lane on the shoulder.

Observer 184 days ago

Sure is a win

Now if only they'd one lane America's Cup and Memorial from Farewell to Bellevue, with parking on both sides...another win win. And get rid of the acres of pavement at Cardines Field to boot.

Would make it safer for cyclists and no slower, the traffic backs up now with the confusion that ensues at Lower Thames and America's cup. If there was only one lane, the right turners from the left lane, and the straight ahead drivers in the right lane would all go away. Not to mention that delivery trucks and busses have already essentially one laned the road at certain times.

Concerned Taxpayer 184 days ago

win-win!

Hopefully this will encourage more people to ride their bikes. Less traffic, less pollution, and less obesity are happy side effects of improved attention to cyclist and pedestrian safety. This is a win-win-win-win-win-win-win! Great job!

john 184 days ago

Re-read the article

They changed the west bound lane from 2 to 1 lane, not the east bound. I don't know why people are complaining about this because the westbound has never really ever gotten backed up with traffic. I think it's better now; you won’t get stuck behind cars trying to turn left through the meridian because they now have their own turn lane.

Pat 184 days ago

Bike lanes

Actually, it won't change traffic because there's only one lane feeding the westbound side and the eastbound side chokes down to one lane. Kinda like a hose either filling a five gallon or a ten gallon pail..still the same amount going in..It will eliminate the lane jumping at the last 1000 feet or so on the eastbound side too.

Tom g 184 days ago

one lane

That's one of the worst ideas I've ever heard of. And Peter pushed this?

Rudd Hall 184 days ago

Summer Traffic

Whose idea was it to reduce the west bound lanes from 2 to 1? Do they drive around this town in the summer time, especially near the beaches? I drove through the area today and can only conclude that this is going to be a nightmare. I ride my bike all over town and it is tragic that a cyclist was killed along this stretch of roadway but this seems like an ill-conceived knee-jerk over-reaction that is going to cause major traffic flow problems during the tourist season. The intersection in front of Flo's is bad enough as it is and now there will be no easing of the bottleneck once you get to the UV plant. Why not keep two lanes and ADD a bike lane? The area is definitely wide enough to accommodate that.

Confused 184 days ago

summer backup

That should cause some road rage this coming summer.

Bystander 185 days ago

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