After more than a year of navigating construction on Upper College Road, renovations are set to finish by the end of 2022. PHOTO CREDIT: Hannah Charron
After about a year’s worth of renovation work led by Assistant Director of Capital Projects Ken Burke, the complete overhaul of Upper College Road is nearly finished.
The road’s re-construction began in the summer of 2020 with replacing deep sewer and water lines, and has continued over the past year.
The project developers have followed a “complete streets” design, according to Burke.
“It’s a design philosophy that emphasizes more transit, pedestrian, bicycle and accessibility options versus single-occupancy vehicles,” Burke said.
The redesign of the streets has not only improved access through creating wider sidewalks but has also increased the number of vegetated areas around Upper College Road. This has directly impacted the water quality of nearby watershed areas.
The streets are also “future-proofed,” according to Burke, meaning they are designed to help incorporate future projects. These projects may include a wayfinding system that the URI campus design team has been working on implementing, which would add new signage across URI to help students navigate campus better.
Underground fiber optics and electrical cables have been installed to be used for improved telecommunications systems, as well as new blue light installations.
Burke said that the project is going according to schedule.
“We achieved substantial completion just before Labor Day [on the Upper College Road project], and that’s basically having [the] underground work done, the roads for the most part, [most] of the sidewalks done and some finish work remaining,” Burke said.
Community members can expect a return to normal road usage in late September.
Funding for this project has come from a combination of a $1 million grant awarded to the University by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management through their Green Economy Grant Program, a $400,000 grant from the Rhode Island Department of Transportation and $700,000 of funds from the University’s Roads bond account.
Burke and Director of Capital Projects Paul DePace said that as the work on Upper College Road concludes, there are many other projects that will begin. These projects include finishing the renovations on the west end of Fraternity Circle North, which is also having its sidewalk and street completely redone.
“At the end of this month, September, we should be completely done with all the road ways, sidewalk [and] landscaping work,” Burke said. “Per our original schedule and the contract we have until the end of the calendar year to finish some of the remaining work, that’s wayfinding signage, we have some other security upgrades that are happening along this corridor.”
Additionally, the University also plans on constructing a new pier at the Narragansett Bay Campus to dock the new University research vessel, which is currently being constructed in Louisiana, according to DePace. This project is set to be completed by the end of 2022.
Furthermore, a new 419-space parking lot is being constructed on the far west side of campus, which will incorporate a solar panel system that will not only provide power for the University but also shade for anyone who parks in the lot, according to Burke. No timeline was currently provided for this project.