N. Kingstown Street Lights Get Curfew

It's lights out for one stretch of road in North Kingstown this week. Starting Thursday, Route 138 from the interchange at Route 1 to the Pell Bridge in Newport will be dark during the wee hours of the night as the Rhode Island Department of Transportation expands its overhead lighting curfew.

Street lights on Route 138 (excluding lights on the Jamestown-Verrazzano Bridge and the Park and Ride at Route 1A) will go dark from midnight to 5 a.m. Sunday through Thursdays and 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

Joining Route 138 in the curfew expansion:

• Route 99 in Cumberland and Lincoln (excluding the Route 146 interchange),
• Route 24 in Portsmouth and Tiverton (from the Turnpike Avenue interchange to the state line, excluding the Sakonnet River Bridge and the Park and Ride on Boyds' Lane),
• the intersection of Route 5 and 113 in Warwick,
• the intersectionof Route 1 nad Route 78 in Westerly and
• I-95's exits 5, 6 and 7 in West Greenwich.

According to RIDOT, these changes will save the state $500,000 annually in electricity. The RIDOT has installed lighting system timers on selected highways to turn off the lights during these late-night hours when traffic volumes are at their lowest.

"As RIDOT has expanded the overhead lighting curfew program, it has carefully studied each location," said RIDOT Director Michael P. Lewis. "We will continue to monitor them and make adjustments if needed."

The program began in May 2010 with a three-month pilot program on Route 4 from exit 8 in East Greenwich to Route 1 in North Kingstown and all of Route 403 and portions of Route 6.