Deadline extended for public comment on Route 6-10 connector

A VIEW UNDERNEATH the Route 6-10 connector, just south of Westminster Street, which shows the temporary braces put in by the R.I. Department of Transportation 15 years ago. The state is extending its deadline to allow public comment on the Route 6-10 connector until the end of next week.
 / PBN FILE PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO
A VIEW UNDERNEATH the Route 6-10 connector, just south of Westminster Street, which shows the temporary braces put in by the R.I. Department of Transportation 15 years ago. The state is extending its deadline to allow public comment on the Route 6-10 connector until the end of next week. / PBN FILE PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO

PROVIDENCE – Amid ongoing conversations with city planners, the state is extending its deadline to allow public comment on the Route 6-10 connector until the end of next week.

Gov. Gina M. Raimondo on Sept. 7 announced she would move ahead with a $400 million plan to replicate and replace the deteriorating 6-10 connector, which is one of the most heavily traveled roadways connecting Providence with the suburbs.
Raimondo originally said she’d allow public comment on what’s become a controversial issue until Nov. 6, but is now allowing a little more time amid discussions with the city.

“We’ve committed to extending the deadline until the end of next week because the work the city and state are doing together has been productive,” said David Ortiz, a Raimondo spokesman.

Since announcing her replicate-and-replace plan, Raimondo and the R.I. Department of Transportation have received pushback from city officials and disgruntled neighborhood advocates, who want to see a revamped plan for the roadway that makes it less disruptive to the surrounding communities.

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Simply replacing it, they argue, wouldn’t solve decades-old problems the roadway has created.

The city offered its own version of a plan, which – among other things – proposes to build an elevated rotary, dubbed a “halo,” and to expand the number of entry and exit points.
The city and the state would not say, however, what to expect from the extra time, although Ortiz said the two groups were “making progress.”

“It depends on what happens at the end of the week,” he said. “We’ll take it one day at a time.”

Raimondo still plans for work to begin early next year, despite allowing the extra time for comments.

The city has repeatedly suggested its plan would cost less than what the state is proposing, but still hasn’t released cost estimates that it said would be made available by the end of October.

“A cost estimate for that design will be dependent upon the final design and should be ready within the next several weeks,” said Victor Morente, city spokesman.

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