East Providence residents not seeing much difference with new 195 lanes

EAST PROVIDENCE, RI (WLNE) — A third eastbound lane officially in place for Monday’s morning commute, and drivers aren’t seeing quite the backups they saw when the westbound lane was added last week.

The lane was put into place overnight Friday, with the hope that a weekend to iron out any immediate issues would give commuters a smoother Monday morning drive.

“When we started on a weekday on the eastbound side, we did that mainly in order to hit a weather window that we needed in order to stay on schedule. This one, like many of our other work zones, will be doing it on a Friday night so we have the full weekend to monitor, make adjustments, and have it ready on Monday morning for traffic.” said RIDOT director Peter Alviti at a press conference on bridge travel safety.

And while there’s still traffic crossing the bridge, residents and businesses in East Providence say there isn’t much of a difference to speak of.

“It doesn’t feel different, I feel like maybe because people aren’t used to the lane changes there’s maybe more traffic? But like I said, maybe over the weeks when people get used to it, it’ll go back down.” said Luis Hernandez who takes the bridge to work every day.

Commuters aren’t quite done with changes on the bridge however, with RIDOT officials announcing additional work on the new lanes every night.

Those will be underway from 9pm to 5am every night through Friday, with alternating lane closures starting on the eastbound side.