Located on the southern end of Rhode Island on Aquidneck Island, Newport is a popular tourist destination. According to the Preservation Society of Newport County, Newport has been a favored spot for tourists since the early to mid-1800s. During the Gilded Age (1870 to 1910), newly wealthy people built mansions in Newport, which have since become landmarks that draw tourists to the city. Known for its beaches and sailing history, Newport is often called the Sailing Capital of the World and periodically hosts the America’s Cup sailing regatta.
The Newport Pell Bridge, constructed in the late 1960s and opened to traffic in 1969, connects the city’s downtown and the North End along Route 138. The four-lane, 11,250-foot-long suspension bridge spans Narragansett Bay. The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) selected general contractor J.H. Lynch & Sons Inc. for a recently completed project, which reconstructed the Newport Pell Bridge approaches.
Route 138 runs over 48 miles from the Rhode Island-Massachusetts state line to the Connecticut-Rhode Island state line. According to RIDOT’s website, “the Route 138 northbound approach was never completed, which would have connected Newport to Route 24 in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Then between 2001 [and] 2008, the Rhode Island Office of Statewide Planning identified the Aquidneck Island Travel Corridor as a major travel corridor of statewide significance.”
Traffic has increased significantly on the Aquidneck Island bridges and roadways. The traffic growth can be traced back to:
- More households spreading among different locations on the island
- Increasing levels of automobile ownership
- Changing commuting patterns
- Increased tourism
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“Several pedestrian fatalities along island roadways [were] caused in part by the increasing difficulty in safely crossing major streets,” according to the RIDOT website.
“The primary purpose of the project is to improve safety through a new traffic alignment and reduce crashes associated with traffic that often backed up onto the Newport Pell Bridge from the downtown Newport exit,” RIDOT Chief Public Affairs Officer Charles St. Martin said. The improved safety extends to all road users, motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists.
Besides the safety benefits, the project is expected to improve connectivity between Newport’s downtown and the North End for all road users.
The project is also expected to have economic benefits, according to RIDOT. These include:
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- Supporting the economic development plan developed by the City of Newport
- Creating parcels for development
- Owner: Rhode Island Department of Transportation
- General Contractor: J.H. Lynch & Sons Inc., Cumberland, Rhode Island
- Designer: Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc., Watertown, Massachusetts; Project Manager, Rick Rhodes
- Other Key Contractors: IDS Highway Safety, Cumberland, Rhode Island; K. Daponte, Fall River, Massachusetts; COSCO, Woonsocket, New Hampshire; Atlantic Bridge, Hampton, New Hampshire
The project was conducted in two phases. During phase one, the team resurfaced JT Connell Highway and Coddington Highway with 2 inches of modified class 12.5 hot mix asphalt (HMA) over 5 inches of class 19 HMA over processed base material, extending it northward from Newport into Middletown, Rhode Island, approximately 2.1 miles.
During phase two, the team realigned the exit into Newport, and they built a new road network guiding traffic onto Halsey Boulevard, which provides connections to a new Connector Road to JT Connell Highway for access to downtown, a roundabout, and the Navy area or to Admiral Kalbfus Road.
“As a result of a more efficient ramp network, the project will make up to 25 acres of land potentially available for open space and future development,” St. Martin said.
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“The extension of JT Connell Highway ... create[d] a straight connection from the North End to downtown as well as installed a sidewalk and shared use paths to improve safety and connectivity for pedestrians and bicyclists,” he added.
RIDOT also transformed the existing Admiral Kalbfus/JT Connell rotary into a modern roundabout, with a new geometry and safer transition into the two-lane roundabout.
Lastly, the team built a new commuter parking lot and dog park that links to a new shared-use path to directly access downtown Newport. The park-and-ride is for drivers traveling between the Pell Bridge Interchange and Gateway Center in Providence, Rhode Island.
Vacation towns are often completely different during the off-season. The biggest difference between the off-season and peak season is the population swell. Newport experiences an estimated 4 million visitors a year, with a population of around 100,000 during the peak season. That is four times the population during the off-season.
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While the tourists are a boon for hotels, restaurants, and other destinations, it can be burdensome on the local infrastructure if it does not have sufficient capacity. Overburdened infrastructure impacts locals and tourists alike and can make traveling to and within the vacation town unpleasant.
The construction team recognizes that tourism is a major economic driver in Newport and worked to ensure the project did not create unwanted challenges for motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists.
“The work was sequenced to minimize the impact on residents, local small businesses, and commuters and the nearby Newport Naval base,” St. Martin said. “Daily traffic increases greatly in summer months given Newport is a major tourist destination, so many of the major traffic operations and changes were planned during off-season periods.”
The tourist season lasts from March to November. However, it is most populated during the summer when people visit the beach. The lengthy tourist season, combined with the cold snowy winters, makes scheduling construction a challenge.
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St. Martin noted that RIDOT utilized an intricate Traffic Management Plan for each roadway to minimize lane restrictions. “In addition to avoiding certain work in the summer months and during peak travel commuting times, we also worked at night where possible to reduce the impact to the local small businesses,” he said.
J.H. Lynch & Sons Inc. has a long-standing relationship with RIDOT. Headquartered about 45 miles north of Newport in Cumberland, Rhode Island, Lynch was founded in the 1940s. They originally focused on residential asphalt and have become a fully integrated construction company with more than 400 employees in six locations throughout New England.
“Lynch has done good work for us in the past, and we’re pleased with their work on this project,” St. Martin said. “They came up with a good schedule and have stuck to it, which was very important to the department.”
Phase one of the project began in 2020 and finished in August 2021, on time. Phase two of the project began in August 2021 and finished at the end of 2024, as scheduled. The team’s ability to quickly solve any issues that arose contributed to maintaining the schedule.
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Phase one of the project cost $10.9 million, and the project came in on budget. Phase two is expected to be nearly $117 million and is on budget. The project is being funded by the federal and state governments. The federal government is paying the majority of the costs at 80 percent.
Completing the Newport Pell Bridge project has turned a long-sought improvement into a reality. Connecting the Route 138 northbound approach to the bridge, along with other improvements, positively impacts motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists. The project also improves connectivity in Newport and increases safety. It makes the town infrastructure better able to handle traffic from tourists and locals alike.
