Roundabouts are the recommended solution for that intersection. We need to listen to recommendations from experts who are qualified in the matter.”

Daniela Abbott, Portsmouth Town Council

PORTSMOUTH — Just 11 days after voting 5-1 to request more information and a meeting with state transportation officials on a proposed roundabout in front of Clements’ Marketplace, the Town Council Monday night wiped away that decision with a majority advocating in favor of the rotary this time.

On a motion by council member Charles Levesque, members voted 4-2 “to respond in the affirmative” to a R.I. Department of Transportation (RIDOT) proposal to construct a roundabout at the intersection of East Main Road and Turnpike Avenue. Voting for the motion were Levesque and council members Daniela Abbott, Leonard Katzman, and J. Mark Ryan. David Gleason and Keith Hamilton voted against the motion. 

On a motion by Hamilton, the council voted 5-1 to also request that during construction in the area, RIDOT open up a second entrance to Clements’ from Immokolee Drive. Levesque voted against the motion.

Town Council President Kevin Aguiar again recused himself from discussion and vote, as he’s employed by a company that often works with RIDOT. Katzman took the gavel in his place.

Anticipating a large turnout like they saw on Nov. 30, council members met in the Portsmouth High School auditorium Monday night and again heard from a large majority of speakers denouncing the plan. Most residents said a roundabout is not needed at the intersection, claiming that for the most part, the junction seems to work fine for motorists. Several advocated for simply reconfiguring the traffic lights at the intersection to improve safety, while others raised concerns about disruptions to local businesses, and accused RIDOT of taking property from Clements’ to complete the project.

Town Administrator Richard Rainer, Jr. started the discussion by reminding everyone that the roundabout plan has been part of major improvements to East Main Road for at least 20 years, going back to the “Town Center” project which seems to have languished over time. However, after the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act became law in November 2021, an influx of federal funds allowed RIDOT to fast-track the road improvements.

In January 2022, the Town Council voted 6-0 to approve RIDOT’s plan to bundle several road improvement projects that would require a “re-scoping” of the Town Center project. Originally, multiple roundabouts were envisioned for the project, but the new plan approved by the council featured only one — in front of Clements’.

Without the roundabout, Rainer said he was told by RIDOT that the East Main Road repaving project “would have to be redesigned and reprogrammed,” meaning it would be taken out of the equation for improvements for next year, if not longer. There was no way to predict how RIDOT would go forward unless the roundabout were approved, the administrator said.

If the council endorsed the roundabout, construction would start in spring 2024 and end in the later part of 2025, Rainer said. RIDOT’s design plans for the roundabout — public access to which has been a major source of contention for many residents — cannot be released as it would compromise the bidding process, he said.

Levesque, a roundabout proponent despite voting to seek more information from the state on Nov. 30, said the previous vote “was very troubling to me,” and defended RIDOT from criticism it was “forcing”  town officials to make a difficult decision without knowing the full scope of the plans. On the contrary, he later learned, RIDOT responded to everything the town asked “and let us know exactly what was going on,” he said.

Abbott, another strong advocate for the rotary and the only council member to vote in the minority on Nov. 30, said it was the council’s duty to support the project, which was recommended by traffic experts at RIDOT. “Roundabouts are the recommended solution for that intersection,” she said, adding they make roads safer and keep traffic moving. “We need to listen to recommendations from experts who are qualified in the matter.”

Katzman, too, said he was now in favor of the plan after being convinced that RIDOT was not being vindictive with its perceived “threat” of merely milling and paving the road if the council disapproved of a roundabout. He compared it to asking someone to re-design a 2,000-square-foot home into a 1,500-square-foot home. 

“It changes the entire redesign and you have to go back to square one,” he said. Roundabouts are not the right solution for every location, he added, “but I believe the East Main Road/Turnpike intersection is suitable.”

Gleason, who called RIDOT a “five-letter swear word,” said he still believed the intersection wasn’t dangerous enough to merit a roundabout, and that the town needed more information on the plans.

“I’m just saying this whole process has been very rushed without time to prepare,” he said. “I don’t think we have the right design from RIDOT here.”

Hamilton’s idea

Hamilton was prepared to make a motion to ask RIDOT to “continue with the planned resurfacing of East Main Road from Hedly Street to the Middletown town line and reengineer the Turnpike stormwater solution, intersection improvements, sidewalk installation and resurfacing” into the state’s Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) “within the next 10 years.”

Since Levesque’s motion prevailed, Hamilton’s item didn’t come up for consideration. However, he said he wanted the state to separate two projects before they were “melded together” by RIDOT — repaving East Main Road from Hedly Street to the Middletown line, and redesigning from Hedly Street to the intersection. It appeared to him that unless the council supported the roundabout plan as is, the entire East Main Road project would have to be redesigned, Hamilton said.

During public comment, which went on for nearly 100 minutes, residents brought up many of the same objections to the roundabout that were heard Nov. 30. One of the new voices was Jim Nott, the chairman of the Zoning Board of Review who has lived both on Freeborn Street and Immokolee Drive, which bookend the intersection.

Nott said the intersection could certainly be improved, and a traffic light placed further south could help break up the traffic, “but a roundabout is not going to cure the problem.” 

John Davis, of West Main Road, said the town doesn’t need a roundabout at the intersection, just better traffic control. “Traffic lights at that intersection have been a mess for years,” he said.

A few in favor

There were a few citizen advocates of the roundabout who spoke at Monday’s meeting.

Sue Hawes, of  Ethel Drive, said roundabouts have been proven to slow traffic yet keep it moving, while forcing drivers to stop being so impatient. 

“People have to pay attention when they’re on a roundabout. They have to yield, they have to wait, they have to use their turn signals,” she said. “If we don’t accept it, we go back down on the list and it might be another 20 or 30 years before something is done.”

Marco Dimattino, of Immokolee Drive, said he trusted the council to do the right thing, and that he was bewildered that RIDOT’s plans have taken so many residents by surprise.

“I’m a little confused, as the people I’m around and talk to are not as afraid or scared or worried about what’s going on. I keep hearing this is a new thing, but my parents moved here 20 years ago and there were discussions then,” he said.

Andrew Richter, of Turnpike Avenue, said he doesn’t know if the roundabout will improve traffic safety conditions or not, but the town may not see any major improvements without it.

“The pressure to improve the road is significant. I don’t think it’s going to help anybody to wait. We need to improve it now,” said Richter, who also pushed back on the “stigma” that rotaries are difficult to navigate. “They’re not. It’s real easy; just follow the rules.”

Eminent domain concerns

Most speakers, however, were strongly opposed to the roundabout. Tracy Anthony, owner of Clements’, repeated concerns she raised earlier: She’s worried about RIDOT taking her property, the rotary will hurt businesses like hers, and that the state has not done enough to engage her in the process.

“If you approve a roundabout and it fails, we’re in a world of trouble. They’re not taking it back out,” she said.

Earlier in the meeting, Levesque apologized for having said on Nov. 30 that Clements’ would automatically be compensated by RIDOT for any business losses caused by construction. He talked to RIDOT officials afterward and learned he was mistaken. “I had said strictly that you were entitled, and that was wrong,” he said.

Hamilton had a word for residents concerned about a roundabout’s impact on local business: “I want people to understand that no matter what happens at the intersection of Clements’ and Turnpike Avenue, there will be major disruption … and there’s really not a lot we can do about it,” he said.

Larry Fitzmorris of the taxpayer group Portsmouth Concerned Citizens said the PCC voted to oppose the roundabout because the state wouldn’t release the full design plans, and that members were concerned about the possible taking of property from businesses.

“A vote for the roundabout is a vote by this council to support eminent domain,” Fitzmorris said.

Ryan had a response to that last statement.

“On the subject of eminent domain, members of the Portsmouth Concerned Citizens who were on this council a few years ago actually approved the illegal seizure of a right of way in Heidi Drive,” he said, noting the town’s attorneys had advised against the action. “The town was therefore sued and forfeited $750,000 because of that action. We have some history in this town of ill-advised seizure — just saying.”