By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN

PAWTUCKET — A bridge re-opening doesn’t sound too exciting, but today’s return of the Division Street bridge to two-way traffic is being hailed as a grand and glorious occasion by many local residents and business owners.

At 10 a.m., Mayor James Doyle, representatives from the state Department of Transportation, and other state and local officials will be holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the new look that has been given to the century-old span.
According to Harvey Goulet, the mayor’s director of administration, the bridge features a newly-paved surface and updated traffic signals and markings designed for eastbound and westbound traffic flow.
The bridge was made one-way, going eastbound, last Nov. 28 as part of a set of detours that were established when a weight limit for trucks was placed on the adjacent Pawtucket River Bridge that is part of I-95. The one-way traffic pattern was created to address concerns from the state Department of Transportation about possible back-ups onto I-95.
While many motorists seemed to adjust fairly quickly to the changes, many avoided the Division Street area completely and local business owners saw a considerable drop-off in customers. At a meeting in February, state DOT officials had said they would try to return the bridge to two-way traffic in three months’ time, but later said they ran into delays with utilities that had to be moved.
Kazem Farhoumand, DOT’s acting chief engineer, said that making the bridge two-way again was far more complicated than just changing the signs. The roadway had to be reconfigured to accommodate the still-closed George Street on-ramp – which will remain closed until the new I-95 bridge span is completed--and to prevent cars from taking a left on George Street toward Division Street.
Farhoumand said that two utility poles, both involving three service companies, had to be re-located and traffic signals were re-modified. Some geometric changes were also made in the roadway, requiring re-paving and re-marking of the surface. He said that DOT crews would be working throughout the night to get the paving work completed in time for the morning’s re-opening.
Farhoumand said the main reason that the bridge was made one-way was to avoid any kind of traffic back-up on I-95, a situation that could cause serious accidents. He acknowledges that city officials want to see the two-way pattern restored to accommodate the local business community, improve access for nearby Memorial Hospital and to better facilitate the increased traffic for people attending events at McCoy Stadium throughout the summer. However, he said he is still concerned about potential congestion, and said that DOT will continue to monitor the situation.
Speaking for the Doyle Administration, Goulet said that city officials and a group of volunteers have been meeting regularly with DOT officials on both the Division Street bridge and the larger-scale construction project that involves the replacement of the Pawtucket River Bridge span of I-95. “We’ve been meeting weekly. Everybody’s working on this thing together,” he said.
Goulet said that having Division Street open just one way for the past seven months has affected businesses on both sides of the bridge. He said that with the extra visitors expected to McCoy stadium this week for the annual fireworks and PawSox game events, city officials had even greater concerns about facilitating traffic flow.
The return to two-way traffic is also welcome news to people like Tom Estrella, manager of the USA 1-Hour Cleaners. Estrella said his business has been “way off” since the bridge was changed, noting that customers from the Darlington area and the other side of the city found it too difficult to get around. “I’m ecstatic. It couldn’t have come sooner,” he stated.
Eric, an employee of Ferdie’s Key Shop, said he and the shop’s owner are happy to see the switch. He said the one-way design had a lot of impact on business. “We lost about 40 percent of our walk-in customer,” he estimated.

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