State Police: Failure by RIDOT to Maintain Highway Construction Area Led to Multiple Accidents

State Police: Failure by RIDOT to Maintain Highway Construction Area Led to Multiple Accidents

An internal document of the Rhode Island State Police identifies the failure by Rhode Island Department of Transportation officials from failing to properly maintain a construction area at the intersection of routes 95 and 146.

And, according to the State Police, the RIDOT failure is directly tied to two accidents.

According to a State Police document, “Due to construction in the area, no lane lines or gore indicators had been painted on the milled road surface. This created a significantly hazardous traffic pattern which contributed to both accidents earlier this morning.”

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The document is titled the Night Executive Officer's report.

The accidents were reported by the State Police on Sunday — saying that they occurred at about 1:30 AM.

According to the State Police, the RIDOT failure was responsible for setting off the crashes which sent one State Trooper to the hospital.

“This created a significantly hazardous traffic pattern which contributed to both accidents earlier this morning,” wrote the State Police.

Director Peter Alviti of RIDOT's office has not responded to questions about the State Police's claims.

 

RIDOT Refused to Respond to Complaints

According to the State Police document, “Sergeant Navarro attempted to address these issues with the TMC today. His attempts met with negative results.”

DOT finally agreed to review the issues after the accidents and repeated requests. “I contacted TMC / DOT [Transportation Management Center] Supervisor Mike Studly who was to assess the situation this evening. Sergeant Navarro to follow up in morning while assigned to TMC.”

More issues were identified in the State Police documents.

“Trooper JR Brown reported another DWI Sig 5 on Route 95 north at Route 146. The attenuator became dislodged and pushed into the first two lanes of travel of Route 95 north. SPLW and SPS cars respond for lights. Route 95 north is closed at 1:05AM. All traffic diverted onto Route 146. SPW cars slide up for calls for service. DOT arrive and remove two light poles from roadway and fix attenuator. DOT also distributes barrels for proper roadway configuration. Highway Closure Report to follow. Captain McKenney advised.”

It took the State Police nearly two hours to reopen the highway after the accidents.