Newly Painted Traffic Lines Scraped Off Recently Repaved Blackstone Boulevard in Providence UPDATED

Newly Painted Traffic Lines Scraped Off Recently Repaved Blackstone Boulevard in Providence UPDATED

The recent effort to repave Blackstone Boulevard in Providence was met with a roadblock, when newly painted traffic lines were laid down — before the brand new blacktop was torn up removing them.

Neighbors complained about the effort by the city, which saw road crews come in the middle of the night to take off the lines that had recently been put down on the lane traveling north. 

“It was around 11 p.m until at least 3 a.m.,” Blackstone Boulevard resident Joan Slafsky told GoLocal, of the night last week that the work was undone.

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“I heard horrendous scraping sounds on the far side of street where lines were complete, went to the window, pulled up the shade and it sure wasn’t St. Nick!" said Slafsky, of the new lines being scraped off the northbound lane.

“I couldn’t tell what was happening down there and later my side of street, where ‘no parking’ signs regarding paving had been up for weeks but no one ever came, guess it was deemed okay as it was,” said Slafskly.  “Most people thought the road and stripes looked great, albeit slightly altered, but now that they’re gouged out, it looks awful.”

“We know who’ll end up paying the bill — practicing on paper and online would have been a lot cheaper than our taxes,” said Slafsky. 

Blackstone Boulevard, which had previously been two lanes of traffic in each direction, was switched to one lane of traffic —and a bike lane — and recent years. 

Latest for City Vendors

Recently, city vendors at Hope High School dumped with dozens of barrels of waste marked “cancer-causing” -- which were later removed following a GoLocalProv.com article. 

As for the Blackstone Boulevard work, the city responded with the following:

"A contractor installed temporary markings based on older plan. The markings were hydroblasted immediately to allow for the installation of markings reflective of a revised plan," said Victor Morente in Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza's office. "The striping contractor was on site last night and will continue their work tonight for permanent striping installation."

Updated Monday 2:02 PM