RI beach traffic (Providence, Newport, Middletown: live, island, summer) - City-Data Forum

dtc12 · 02-19-2010, 10:55 PM

How bad is the beach traffic in RI if traveling from Boston?

lrfox · 02-20-2010, 01:00 PM

^Which beaches?

RunawayJim · 02-23-2010, 11:45 AM

Are you talking about going to the beaches or traveling through RI during the summer? Beach traffic is generally limited to the southern portion of the state. If you're traveling on 95, it's not bad at all, though there might be some traffic around Exit 9, which heads down south.

NY Annie · 02-25-2010, 10:42 AM

Right now the beach traffic is really light. In the summer, it gets pretty heavy along Route 1 in N. and S. Kinstown but it isn't horrendous.

RunawayJim · 02-25-2010, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NY Annie

Right now the beach traffic is really light. In the summer, it gets pretty heavy along Route 1 in N. and S. Kinstown but it isn't horrendous.

I suppose that depends on your definition of horrendous. It's pretty horrendous early in the morning and starts to lighten up around 10-11 and gets heavier again starting at 3-4.

Right now, you'll get to the beach in a breeze.

Hoxsie454 · 02-25-2010, 01:36 PM

On a hot, Summer day, beach traffic on route 1 and 4 can be an absolute nightmare. If there is a fender bender, pull off the road and stretch your legs because you aint-a-goin nowhere! Route 95 however, is seldom effected by beach traffic, so you might take 95 to the exit nearest the beach of your choice.

If you are coming south from Boston, you might take rt 24 thru Fall River and take the Sakonnet River Bridge into Portsmouth and head south to the beaches in Newport and Middletown, R.I. which usually arn't too crowded.

Jenkins86 · 02-25-2010, 01:45 PM

While very crowded on routes 1 and 4 in the summer on the weekends, it is not as bad as Cape Cod, route 3/6, etc.

NY Annie · 02-27-2010, 11:29 AM

Actually, there's only been 1 time in all my years in RI where I found the traffic horrendous! It was on 95 and there had been a really terrible accident southbound below exit 3. Traffic was backed up to exit 6 and people were driving across the divider to turn around. We got off at exit 5 and headed over to CT and picked up 95 somewhere around Mystic, IIRC.

I lived in Wickford and later Wakefield for most of my 30 years in RI and I NEVER saw "horrendous" traffic. Stop and go that gets you there a little longer than you wanted to get there is simply heavy traffic.

Shortly after I moved to NY, there was a hazardous spill as a result of a truck accident. THAT created horrendous traffic for 8 hours. Even going around the outside of the island, it took me 5 hours to get home, normally a 45 min drive. (Staten Island and Rhode Island are about the same size.)

Hoxsie454 · 02-27-2010, 11:58 AM

NY ANNIE -- I presume you are comparing the size of Staten Island with that of Aquidneck Island (official named Rhode Island, an island after which the state is named), and not the size of the STATE of Rhode Island, which of course is more than a dozen times the size of Staten Island.

RunawayJim · 02-27-2010, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NY Annie

Actually, there's only been 1 time in all my years in RI where I found the traffic horrendous! It was on 95 and there had been a really terrible accident southbound below exit 3. Traffic was backed up to exit 6 and people were driving across the divider to turn around. We got off at exit 5 and headed over to CT and picked up 95 somewhere around Mystic, IIRC.

I lived in Wickford and later Wakefield for most of my 30 years in RI and I NEVER saw "horrendous" traffic. Stop and go that gets you there a little longer than you wanted to get there is simply heavy traffic.

Shortly after I moved to NY, there was a hazardous spill as a result of a truck accident. THAT created horrendous traffic for 8 hours. Even going around the outside of the island, it took me 5 hours to get home, normally a 45 min drive. (Staten Island and Rhode Island are about the same size.)

I'd call it horrendous when it takes double or triple the time to get to where you want/need to go. The drive from Providence to Narragansett is about 35 min in normal traffic. The drive in beach traffic can take 1-1.5 hours. Yes, I've been stuck in it. Is it the worst traffic I've ever been in? No. But for that area, it can get horrendous, especially when you consider it only takes 45 min to drive across the state diagonally (95 from the CT border to the MA border) in no traffic.