Projo Politics Blog

One of the expenses in the $186,000 spent so far on public-relations campaign for the new “Iway” is a shiny, multicolored Commemorative Program which starts “How The Iway came to be,” provides a photo layout of “project milestones,” and offers tips on “how to get from there to here” before days of traffic jams forced a rejiggering of the routes.

The Iway, of course, is the name the state Department of Transportation and its consultants came up with for the one-mile stretch of new highway that’s a short piece of a much longer highway. The four-year, $500,000 public-relations campaign is part of a contract with Duffy & Shanley, the Providence advertising, marketing and public relations firm whose founding partner, David A. Duffy, has been a political ally of Governor Carcieri. The governor made Duffy head of his transition team in 2002 and later appointed him to the state Convention Center Authority.

DOT spokeswoman Dana Alexander Nolfe said the program was handed out to people who attended the bridge-opening festivities, in part, because all other “printed resources were either outdated or represented highly technical engineering drawings.” She said copies were also sent to local libraries, the AAA, the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council and welcome centers on Route 95 in Richmond and Route 295 in Lincoln.

“The distribution was important because the material included information on exits and on ramps that explained what would be open based on the new traffic flow. …This was critical since some of the exits were not available depending on whether someone was driving on the old 195 or the Iway.”

Nolfe said the publication was “developed in-house and the concept and layout were set up in-house as well. Printing was done outside.” She said the DOT had a choice of printing 1,000 copies at a cost of $7,727, or 15,000 copies at a cost of $15,461. Given the great per-piece savings with choosing a higher print run, we chose to print 15,000 copies.”

“Currently we have approximately 1,500 copies left. If your readers would like to request one that can contact RIDOT’s customer service at (401) 222-2450,” she told Political Scene.

kgregg@projo.com

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