As state and Providence city officials look to address the continuing impacts of the Washington Bridge closure, a different type of transit infrastructure could be on the chopping block: the South Water Street bike lanes.
Providence Mayor Brett P. Smiley has floated the removal of the bike lanes as a potential way to ease congestion in Fox Point near the onramp for the eastbound side of Interstate 195, with the street returning to a previous layout that included two lanes of one-way car traffic.
The proposal has prompted pushback from advocates of alternative transportation modes, but remains a temporary possibility, says Josh Estrella, a spokesperson for Smiley’s office.
“Now that we know that [the westbound Washington Bridge] closure will be ongoing for at least the next two years, we are going to be taking a serious look at the areas in the city that have been the most impacted so that we can implement permanent solutions to reduce congestion and improve the flow of traffic,” Estrella said.
“It is too early to say what changes will need to be made and where. But at this point, all options, including the potential of temporarily removing bike lanes, remain on the table,” he said.
While alternative transportation advocates decry the idea, many in the neighborhood would be pleased to see the lanes be used to make more room for cars. From the time the bike lanes were proposed, they were opposed by some members of the business community in that neighborhood.
The lanes, which opened in 2021, narrowed the street to one lane.
During rush hour on weekday afternoons, cars often back up on that stretch as commuters make their way out of the city. On one recent afternoon, the time it took to pass through the one-lane section of South Water Street ranged from 90 seconds to five minutes.
Ediz Monzon, owner of Cafe Modesto, is among those business owners who feel that the bike lanes complicate the economy on South Water Street, where he commonly parks his food truck during the warmer months.
People seemed to have an easier time parking in the area before the lanes were installed, he says, bringing more potential customers to the neighborhood. But while Monzon thinks the area “used to be more flexible” to navigate, he adds that he understands cyclists’ concerns with the old layout.
Over the years, however, other businesses on the street have had more aggressive objections to the bike lanes. A letter of opposition sent to the R.I. Department of Transportation in 2021 was signed by the owners of Bacaro Restaurant, Plant City, Marc Allen Fine Clothiers, as well as executives and administrators from Brown University, Rhode Island School of Design, Chisholm, Chisholm & Kilpatrick Ltd., Duffy & Sweeney Ltd. and Hemenway's Restaurant.
On the other end of the spectrum, Maurice Collins, owner and operator of the Wild Colonial Tavern, says he was “aghast” when he heard of Smiley’s proposal to remove the bike lanes.
With the installation of the lanes, the street lost a second lane of traffic, he says, but gained substantially in foot traffic and safety.
Couple with the opening of the pedestrian bridge across the Providence River, “this whole neighborhood has changed,” Collins said, with “no drag racing, and the street is safer” to cross.
More pedestrians translated to an increase in business at Wild Colonial, Collins says, and he gets business from cyclists too.
Bridge-related traffic has put a halt to some of that business, Collins says, but he doesn’t see how removing the bike lanes would help.
“If you can’t get to the bridge, then you can’t get to the bridge,” he said. “I appreciate that there’s an attempt to solve the problem ... But this isn’t it.”
Liza Burkin, lead organizer for the Providence Streets Coalition, also points to improved pedestrian traffic and safety in the area due to the bike lanes, citing city data that shows a decrease in crashes.
She also sees some room to compromise in the street design, such as narrowing the bike lane buffer and widening the travel lane to ease parallel parking concerns.
But "with all the extra activity in this area and the upcoming residential developments, it's extra important that South Water Street is as safe as we can make it for people walking in the area,” Burkin said.
The key aspects of a “walkable” city, is for pedestrians to not felt overwhelmed or threatened by traffic. To cater to cars exiting the city, a period of some 2 hours weekdays is misallocation of resources and country to a pedestrian friendly city. South Water Street is safer today because we have reduced the lanes leading to threatening high speed. Is the Smiley leadership to go back in time?