NEWS: Smiley introduces plan to fix Providence roads

On a crack filled sidewalk, Providence Mayoral hopeful Brett Smiley introduces his ‘Road Repair Plan’. Photo by Andrew Augustus, WPRO News

Andrew Augustus, WPRO News

Providence residents are sick of hitting teeth-rattling potholes and candidate for Mayor Brett Smiley thinks he has the fix.

Smiley’s “Road Repair Plan” covers everything from filling potholes to plowing roads when it snows.

“People joke that sometimes this job is chief pot hole filler for the state of Rhode Island, and with this plan we will be the best chief pot hole filler that this city and state has ever seen,” said Smiley.

The plan calls for the creation of a Director of Project Management to oversee all agencies involved in road repair. The director would be tasked with bringing utilities companies together and having them work on the same roads at the same time so roads are not constantly being dug up.

After the job is completed, the Director would then go and inspect the paved road to make sure the project has been completed properly.

As for fixing pot holes and roads, he says his plan calls for a systematic approach to fixing the roads rather than political favors.

“If you go back to the Cianci administration, you had the process where road reconstruction money were split between the council and the city, and this is where connected people’s sidewalks got fixed and certain people’s roads got fixed,” said Smiley

Smiley also calls for better and more efficient snow removal across the city.

He proposed to pay for snow plows by the mile rather than by the hour.

“As mayor I will go out to bid as a contract where we pay to plow by the mile as opposed to by the hour and it will be the responsibility of the contractor to be able to comply with that bid which means having GPS on their trucks,” said Smiley.

In addition to plowing, Smiley said he would make sure sidewalks are clear during snowstorms to provide a safe path for pedestrians to walk on.