PROVIDENCE, RI — Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) Director Peter Alviti, Jr. recently gathered with local and state leaders to celebrate the completion of the Gano Street Realignment Project in Providence. RIDOT substantially completed the $3.2-million project late last year, eight months ahead of schedule and on budget. The project reached full completion this spring.

“We have added to the Blackstone River Bikeway in a way that makes it much safer than the old bike route on Gano Street," Alviti said. "And it gives bikers and walkers access to the park, to ball fields, and, in time, to a new brewery. It is truly an amenity for all people."

RIDOT reconstructed portions of India Street and Gano Street to realign and straighten the intersection, correcting a sharp curve on India Street where it met Gano Street. The old curve was a temporary traffic pattern created during construction of the I-195 Relocation/Iway and Washington Bridge Eastbound projects in the 2000s. Under RhodeWorks, RIDOT identified funding to complete the realignment.

RIDOT also created a 0.2-mile extension of the Blackstone River Bikeway. The new shared-use path replaces a bike route on Gano Street. It connects the bikeway section along the Seekonk River that RIDOT opened in 2017 with India Point Park, the Hilton Garden Inn, the new Narragansett Beer brewery, now under construction, and other India Point Park features including the Brown boathouse, ball fields, community sailing, and Providence to Newport Ferry.

The project also included a large gravel lot underneath the Washington Bridge that will provide additional parking for the bike path, nearby businesses, recreational fishing, and future events in the park. The permeable gravel surface was an environmentally-friendly choice instead of asphalt, allowing stormwater to slowly filter through the soil and limiting the impact of stormwater runoff flowing into the Seekonk River.