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Neighbors Discuss Traffic and Parking Problems at Public Meeting
More than 50 Summit residents and local business employees and owners attended a public meeting on May 30th at Hillside Health Center at 99 Hillside Avenue. After a brief introduction, the traffic engineers from BETA Group listened for almost 90 minutes to descriptions of speeding traffic on Hillside and Rochambeau Avenues, Tenth and Hope Streets, and other parts of the neighorhood.Martha Heald, the project leader from BETA Group, described the work her team had already done, which consisted of traffic counts at several intersections in the neighborhood and an inventory of traffic signals and parking. She explained that streets fall into three categories: arterial, collector and local. Most streets in Summit are local. Rochambeau and Overhill Road / Seventh Street are designated collectors. North Main Street is an arterial.
After her introduction, she opened the meeting up to the audience, fielding the occasional question.
Speeding on Rochambeau, Hillside
Several people who live on Rochambeau and Hillside Avenues spoke up about the volume and speed of cars and trucks on their streets. Residents identified several traffic patterns, including the tendency for eastbound Rochambeau traffic to bypass the intersection with Hope Street by cutting down Summit Avenue, often at high speed.
Despite the fact that Hillside Avenue is a local street, it sees more than it's share of neighborhood cut-through traffic. One person mentioned that the Shell Station had responded to neighborhood complaints about their trucks by re-routing them north to Pidge or south to Cypress. Still, residents said, Hillside sees too many speeding cars and trucks.
Similar comments were heard from people about different locations throughout the neighborhood.
Hope Street: Pedestrian-Friendly or -Unfriendly?
Countering some initial observations made by the engineers, residents insisted that Hope Street is difficult and dangerous to cross on foot. Ms. Heald reported that BETA engineers had seen motorists stopping for pedestrians along the commercial strip (though not for cars entering from side streets). Several residents were incredulous and insisted that isn't the case. The BETA folks agreed to gather more data.
Two More Public Meetings Planned
There will be two more public meetings this year. At the next one, BETA Group will present preliminary study results and proposals and offer neighbors a chance to comment on them. The final meeting will be to present the final study and traffic plan. No dates have been chosen for these meetings yet.
Send Us Your Comments
Let us know about particular traffic or parking problems in Summit Neighborhood. Please identify where you live and where the problem is. Describe it as completely as you can. For instance, if there is a speeding problem on your street, is it only during certain times of the day? Do cars speed in both directions or mostly in just one direction?Send your comments to
- sna@sna.providence.ri.us
- BETA Group, Inc.
- 6 Blackstone Valley Place
- Lincoln, RI 02865
- Attn. Martha Heald
- 6 Blackstone Valley Place
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