By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN

PAWTUCKET — Spurred by a strongly worded letter from the developers of the new Hampton Inn, city officials have told the state Department of Transportation that they want to see Division Street opened up again to two-way traffic.

Mayor James Doyle recently forwarded to the City Council a copy of a letter sent to him from Alfred Carpionato, president and CEO of Carpionato Properties, Inc., in regard to the temporary one-way traffic on Division Street. Doyle told the council that the continued limitation of the Division Street bridge will create “an intolerable economic condition” for the Hampton Inn developer.
Doyle told the council that at a Dec. 17 meeting of his newly formed I-95 Bridge Task Force, RIDOT was requested to restore the two-way traffic to the Division Street bridge.
See TRAFFIC, Page A-2
He said that RIDOT has agreed to do a study of the Division Street bridge, including a traffic count, to determine the feasibility of returning it to two-way traffic, and that the study is expected to be completed shortly.
The Division Street bridge was changed to one-way as part of the detour that was put in place when a 22-ton weight limit for trucks was imposed on the Pawtucket River Bridge portion of I-95. Trucks weighing more than 22 tons were told to avoid the area between Exits 27 and 28 in Pawtucket. Truck drivers were advised to seek alternate routes around the city by taking I-295 and Route 146.
In Carpionato’s letter, he wrote the mayor that the proposed hotel “will not be economically viable if access to the hotel via Division Street is restricted in any way.”
Carpionato said that the I-95 bridge repairs, which reportedly could take up to five years to complete, coincides with the opening years of the hotel’s operations. He noted that introducing a new hotel to market is an “extremely demanding exercise” and one that requires ideal marketing and access conditions. He said,
“Construction in or around the hotel, by itself, poses an enormous threat to the hotel’s success. The added burden of a one-way street as the major access point is intolerable,” the developer wrote. He urged the City to use its “maximum efforts” to reverse the RIDOT’s position to make Division Street one-way and offered his assistance, if needed, in further negotiations with the RIDOT on this matter.
Kazem Farhoumand, acting chief engineer for RIDOT, had previously said that the one-way configuration on Division Street was implemented over a concern about traffic gridlock and back-ups onto I-95 south. Efforts to reach him on Monday were unsuccessful, but Dana Nolfe, a spokesman for RIDOT, said he has looked into the City’s request and expects to have a reply in the coming days.
Nolfe said, however, that because Division Street is a city-owned street, the decision to restore the two-way traffic is up to Pawtucket city officials and not the Department of Transportation. “We can only give advice. The ultimate decision rests with the city,” she stated.
Sgt. Raymond Clary of the Pawtucket Police Traffic Division, said that the state was paying for local police details for approximately three weeks at the Division Street and Prospect Street detour sites. However, due to the economic conditions at he state level, the money for the details has stopped.
He said that he still gets the occasional call about back-ups, in the morning or afternoon commuter times, but that, overall, the traffic situation has quieted down in the area, as motorists and truck drivers alike have sought new routes.
The Rhode Island State Police, however, are still actively patrolling I-95 and enforcing the weight limit ban on the Pawtucket River Bridge. Capt. Raymond White, District Commander, said that the state police were out “24/7” during the first two weeks that the truck detour went into effect.
Working with the DOT, the decision was made to suspend the active enforcement for two weeks, to see if the message got out to the trucking community. “Unfortunately, that was not the case,” White said. On Jan. 2, the state police resumed three-day per week enforcement, and based on the number of violators, has gone back to a daily enforcement schedule.
White said that the state police and DOT have worked with the Rhode Island Trucking Association to educate the local truckers. However, he said it is largely the long-distance haulers, both unfamiliar with the bridge and thinking of saving fuel, who decide to chance it and drive across the bridge anyway. “We understand, if you’re from, say, Mississippi and you don’t know the area. But we can’t have overweight trucks on that bridge,” stressed White. “We are still out there, doing vigorous enforcement.”
While the hotel developer caught the mayor’s attention, other local businesses are feeling the pinch because of the detour. A manager for USA Cleansers said that business has been off since the detours, and that several customers have complained that the store is difficult to access.
Management at the Comfort Inn at George Street and Tire Pro on Division Street also report a drop in business. A Tire Pro manager, who did not wish to be identified, said the one-way traffic on Division Street has had a definite impact on business and has prompted numerous complaints from customers about the extra time and effort it takes to get to the store. “I’ve had a couple of longtime customers cancel appointments recently, saying that it’s just too much hassle to get here,” the manager said.
Richard Murphy, the owner of the Comfort Inn and Ground Round restaurant, says it is the signs on the I-95 itself, warning motorists to avoid the area, that are confusing to out-of-state travelers who are enroute to the hotel. “I get calls every day from people asking me how to get here if the highway is closed,” said Murphy. “It is the way the signs are crafted. People think the highway is closed,” he complained.
Murphy also said that the Ground Round restaurant, which depends on more local business, has also been off since the detours went into place in November.
Murphy and several other business owners said they intend to be at the next meeting of the mayor’s I-95 Bridge Task Force, which is scheduled to meet sometime at the end of this month.