Nayatt Road project receives stellar reviews

Communication a key for road repaving project

By Josh Bickford
Posted 9/16/19

The wait was worth it.

Town and state officials announced the completion of the Nayatt Road repaving project at a special event on Thursday morning, Sept. 12. 

The work, which included …

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Nayatt Road project receives stellar reviews

Communication a key for road repaving project

Posted

The wait was worth it.

Town and state officials announced the completion of the Nayatt Road repaving project at a special event on Thursday morning, Sept. 12. 

The work, which included the construction of new sidewalks, removal of trees that encroached upon the roadway, and a complete rebuild of the road surface in some sections, had been on the Rhode Island Department of Transportation's list of upcoming projects for years. It was initially slated to begin in 2016, but did not get rolling until 2018. 

Despite the delay, state and local officials were very pleased with the final product. 

Barrington Town Manager Jim Cunha, council member and former Rep. Joy Hearn and current Rep. Liana Cassar attended Thursday morning's event and shared their praise for the project.

"This was extremely successful," said Mr. Cunha. "Jody Richards, the project manager, was engaged with us from the very beginning. He listened to what we had to say about our concerns, about the drainage, the sidewalks. Those were all modified based on inputs from the town… the Broadview neighborhood having access to the sidewalks. We worked in coordination to make sure we didn't interfere with events and access to the beach and that type of thing. 

"I think it was an out of the park, it was a home run. It's not often that state agencies and local governments can completely agree and work cohesively to make something happen. It's nice to get a win once in a while."

The project, which carried a $3.9 million price tag, was completed on time and on budget, said state officials. The work ran the entire 1.8-mile length of Nayatt Road — from Washington Road to Rumstick Road. Some sections of Nayatt were completely rebuilt, employing a technique called pavement reclamation, "in which the base of the roadway is reconstructed to provide a long-lasting repair."

The construction also included installation of new granite curbing and sidewalks from Rumstick Road west to Broadview Drive, as well as drainage improvements.

Ms. Hearn, a former representative for Barrington, played a role in helping to bring the project to the community. As someone who lives near Nayatt Road, she knew how much the old Nayatt Road needed to be repaired. 

After seeing (and driving on) the final product, Ms. Hearn said she was very happy with the work.

"It's terrific. It's a road that certainly needed (this) for a long time, and I think I kind of saw this as a priority of the town and certainly a priority of mine," she said. "I ran for office on the bridge project. Transportation projects are dear to my heart and make a change to the community. I knew that this one would help not only drivers but pedestrians, bikers, everybody."

Jody Richards, the project manager for the Nayatt Road Improvement Project, was commended for his work. Mr. Cunha and Ms. Hearn both praised Mr. Richards for his daily communications with town officials and the coordination with members of the public.

"I think that was a great (RIDOT) team," said Ms. Hearn. "Jody has been terrific. I think the communication between RIDOT, the town, and the community has made a big difference."

RIDOT Director Peter Alviti, Jr. also recognized Mr. Richards during the Thursday event.

"All of our project managers get gold stars. Jody Richards is the project manager here, and he is one of our stars," said Mr. Alviti. "But I have to tell you, I have been blessed to be able to build a team in the last four years."

Mr. Alviti said that during his tenure, the RIDOT has transitioned from being a construction/engineering agency with a heavy focus on getting work done, into a more project management mode.

"Project managers now have much broader responsibilities than just building things, as we did in the past," said Mr. Alviti. "The project manager on each project now is not only responsible for on-time, on-budget construction and design. We involve them right from the beginning … in community involvement so that they can be cognizant where they're building this, the local concerns ... and then plan it into the design, plan it into the execution."

Mr. Richards said the success of the project is due in part to the community meetings held before crews broke ground.

"When you pick a project, you really want to hear from the community. From that I understood the issues with the sidewalks, the issue with the trees, there were hazards really close to the right of way … I realized there was a RISD campus, so this road touches this wide fabric of people. So having that early meeting led me to understand what was important to the public," he said. 

Mr. Richards said the DOT held a second community meeting to collect more input.

"Then on top of that it was really the weekly communication with these folks," he added.

Mr. Richards also worked closely with Barrington Superintendent of Schools Michael Messore and other school officials, as Nayatt School rests on the eastern end of Nayatt Road. 

"For me, one of the main issues for this was obviously the school traffic," he said. "And because of our familiarity with the superintendent, we were able to add extra details, extra flaggers for people walking to school, we were able to accommodate buses through the work zone — we put that in the contract so the contractor has to work with that. Because we did these things, that's why we didn't get the negative feedback."

Safer road

Rep. Liana Cassar is very familiar with Nayatt Road — she has driven it in her car and ridden her bicycle on it as well. 

Prior to the road improvement project, she used to limit the times she would use the road for bike rides. 

"I used to bike this more than anything, and I would only bike it certain times of day when there would be no cars," she said, adding that it was too difficult navigating the potholes and oncoming traffic at the same time.

Rep. Cassar also said that Nayatt Road plays host to plenty of younger, inexperienced motorists. 

"When we think about it, this is a common road for kids going to see their friends, going to the beach. We live in a wonderful community where our youth has the opportunity to go down to the beach, so we have young drivers who are navigating this … now we can be confident that it's a little safer," she said. 

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A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.