An applicant seeking approval for a 400-unit apartment complex on Tiogue Avenue told Coventry's Technical Review Committee this week that preliminary traffic analysis indicates the project likely will not meet state warrants for a new traffic signal at the site's main entrance, even under conservative assumptions about turning movements.
The committee, which reviews development applications before they go to the Planning Commission, met Wednesday, July 15, to go over staff and department comments on the proposal, according to the Coventry Technical Review Committee's published meeting recording. The developer's traffic engineer told the committee that even assuming 60% of exiting vehicles turn left onto Tiogue Avenue — a turning movement generally harder to execute safely than a right turn — the site still would not generate enough traffic to justify a signal under state Department of Transportation standards. The engineer said preliminary numbers suggest a roughly even split between vehicles heading east and west, with a slight majority, about 55%, turning right.
Planning staff had asked the applicant to look into reinstalling a traffic signal that once existed near the project's entrance. The developer's team said it would continue to examine the option but cautioned that the numbers so far don't support it.
The exchange also surfaced a dispute over timing and process for the traffic review itself. Rhode Island law allows developers to obtain a state Department of Transportation permit, known as a physical alteration permit or PAP, either before or after local approval. The applicant's attorney asked whether the committee would accept the state's own review of the traffic study in place of a separate local peer review, if the DOT permit is secured early. Coventry's police and engineering departments had each recommended that the town commission an independent peer review of any traffic study submitted by the developer. A planning representative said the town wants to know where local traffic review stands at the preliminary plan stage regardless of whether the state permit is in hand, saying the town would rely on the DOT's scrutiny only if it comes with enough detail to inform Coventry's own decision-making.
The committee and the applicant's traffic engineer also discussed a design tradeoff for the development's main exit onto Tiogue Avenue: whether to build one exit lane or two. A two-lane exit would let right-turning vehicles move around left-turning vehicles waiting for a gap in traffic, an approach planning staff said it favors. But the developer's engineer noted a second lane could create sight-line problems, particularly if a smaller vehicle in one lane blocks a driver's view of oncoming traffic in the other. The engineer said the firm's analysis is too preliminary to say which layout is safer and that the tradeoffs will need further study. A planning representative said that for now, two lanes appears to be the town's preferred approach, but said the committee wants to see the developer's full safety analysis before that is settled.
The engineer told the committee the project's location, with multiple routes to the highway, should help disperse traffic rather than concentrate it at one intersection, and said a morning "gap study" will look at whether there are enough breaks in traffic on Tiogue Avenue for vehicles to safely exit the site, particularly during the morning commute when more residents would be leaving.
The Department of Public Works submitted written comments through Kevin McGee, who was not present at the meeting, recommending that an abandoned secondary access road be reopened for emergency use, a point echoed by the fire and police departments as they discussed the need for a second point of entry and exit for the 400-unit site.
None of the traffic findings discussed Wednesday are final. The applicant is required to submit a full traffic study at the preliminary plan stage, and the town has said it wants clarity by then on where the project's DOT permit process stands and what local traffic review will look like. The Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the master plan application on July 22, when the committee's comments will be included in a staff report for commissioners to consider.