RIDOT touts ‘accountability,’ ‘transparency’ in new report

Agency plans status update signs at road project sites

Posted 5/5/16

Touting a new focus on transparency and accountability, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) has issued the first quarterly report required under the RhodeWorks legislation approved …

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RIDOT touts ‘accountability,’ ‘transparency’ in new report

Agency plans status update signs at road project sites

Posted

Touting a new focus on transparency and accountability, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) has issued the first quarterly report required under the RhodeWorks legislation approved earlier this year.

Additionally, officials have announced plans for the placement of signs in the coming months to inform commuters on the status of road projects across the state.

“This is a new way of doing business for RIDOT,” Peter Alviti Jr., RIDOT’s director since February 2015 and the former public works chief in Cranston, said through a statement. “We’re creating a culture of accountability and transforming the organization into one that is fully capable and committed to delivering on its promises of rebuilding Rhode Island’s infrastructure.”

The 100-page report, which is available online at dot.ri.gov/performance, lists hundreds of ongoing projects, and provides information regarding their cost and timetable for completion. It also includes a new organizational chart for the agency, and a range of additional information.

The signs – which according to RIDOT’s statement “will clearly indicate when new projects are expected to begin, and when current projects are set to be finished and at what cost” – are slated to be placed at each of the agency’s worksites. They will include “color coded markers” based on the green, yellow, and red of a traffic signal to indicate whether or not a specific project is on time and on budget.

The report and plan for worksite signs comes amid a major shakeup at RIDOT, and after approval earlier this year of the controversial RhodeWorks truck-tolling plan. That legislation calls for 90 percent of the state’s worst-in-the-nation bridges to be made structurally sufficient by 2024.

The bridge over railroad tracks on Park Avenue near its intersection with Elmwood Avenue in Cranston became a flashpoint in the RhodeWorks debate last summer when it was closed for emergency repairs that took roughly one month. The bridge remains slated for replacement.

Alviti in the report writes that thanks to RhodeWorks, RIDOT will advertise twice as many bridge projects between March and September of 2016 than it would have otherwise.

“As I’ve previously stated in my RhodeWorks testimony, I welcome the transparency provided by this reporting because it will enable … all Rhode Islanders to hold RIDOT accountable,” Alviti writes. “My commitment to you as Director is that there will be no more empty promises, no more wasting money on designing projects that have no money to construct, no more passing the buck. I look forward to continuing to work together to ensure the successful implementation of the RhodeWorks legislation.”

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