In my opinion, RIDOT completely dropped the ball during the I-way project by not putting in HOV lanes during the multi-million (billion?) dollar 195/95 interchange reworking. This would have been a perfect opportunity to give a big boost to public transportation and those who do the right thing by carpooling. Yet, nobody appears to have had the forsight.
I happened to wimp out last night and ride the bus home. It had been quite a while since I’d ridden the bus home and I was shocked to see how long it takes to get out of Providence and onto 195 East bound. Here is a map with the approximate route the bus takes on it’s way out of town. What isn’t clear on this map is that almost the entire way is two lanes and the small section that is not would not take much work to add a second lane. So here’s a meager suggestion… why not do the right thing and make one of these lanes an HOV lane during rush hour?
I’d love to hear other thoughts on this. If you feel it’s a good idea, then I’d encourage you to contact RIDOT in support of this idea. Let’s get the first HOV lane in Providence! Let’s allow the buses and those who carpool to get out of Providence just a little bit faster!