RICHMOND, R.I. (AP) — Officials in a Rhode Island town say they haven’t received notice of the state’s plan to reopen a shuttered rest stop and welcome center on Interstate 95.
A state Department of Transportation spokesman confirmed the facility between Exits 2 and 3 in Richmond will reopen in mid-September, the Westerly Sun reports.
But Westerly Town Administrator Karen Pinch says the town’s only indication that something was happening was when RIDOT asked a town employee to refurbish the facility’s old “Welcome to Rhode Island” sign.
Some state lawmakers from the area have been pushing for re-opening the facility, which closed in 2011.
They hope that by re-opening the facility the state won’t have to move forward with plans for a new transit hub in nearby Hopkinton that some local residents oppose.
