James Barata, right, a member of Providence’s Local 37, Ironworkers of America, and fellow member Brian Tyo guide an iron beam with an evergreen tree and a flag into place on the top floor of the new $60-million corporate headquarters of FM Global during a “topping off” ceremony yesterday in Johnston. Below, ironworker John Kemper looks at signatures on the final beam.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

JOHNSTON — FM Global will spend at least $2 million on planned traffic-alleviating improvements along Atwood Avenue, according to company officials.

“We want to make sure our people can get back and forth to work,” said the company’s vice president of real estate operations, Thomas M. Dusel.

Dusel and a company spokesman, Steven Zenofsky, emphasized FM Global’s commitment to the smooth flow of traffic earlier this month, a few days after the town’s Planning Board held a court-ordered hearing on the company’s headquarters project off Central Avenue.

The officials also backed up FM Global’s existing plan for controlling storm water at the site, where contractors are erecting a new $60-million headquarters building for the worldwide insurance company.

Their remarks represent a response to traffic and flooding concerns that the owner of FM Global’s existing building, CapLease, presented to the Planning Board on Aug. 5.

After taking some time to digest CapLease’s comments, the board is expected to act on the information at a meeting on Sept. 2.

Superior Court Judge Michael A. Silverstein ordered the board to reopen its hearings on the project and let CapLease present its concerns.

He also ordered the board to enter a new decision on the project following the hearing.

This past spring, CapLease appealed the Planning Board’s earlier permit decisions, accusing town officials of illegally blocking it from timely access to public information during the initial planning process that had unfolded over the winter.

CapLease’s most recent comments and filings have suggested that the flood plan was designed with outdated mapping equipment and relies on insufficient detention ponds.

Dusel disagrees.

“Why would our improvements exacerbate a problem that isn’t there?” asked Dusel, speaking about the drainage.

He noted that FM Global’s experts say the amount of water entering the Pocasset River after the project will be less than the amount running into it now.

As an insurer interested in being a good model for its own clients, FM Global must meet the highest possible standards for flood protection, Zenofsky said.

“I have to be as good as any one of them, if not better,” he said.

“We have to walk the talk,” he added.

Dusel also stresses that proposed traffic improvements at the Route 6 interchange will be necessary, but only after the completion of the Stonehill Marketplace brings a much greater volume of traffic to the area.

CapLease officials, including the senior vice president, Gary E. Landriau, fear the interchange project will have less priority at that point.

Dusel acknowledged that the project’s completion will depend on follow-through from the Rhode Island Department of Transportation.

“I can assure you that will be the best solution possible,” he said.

Said Zenofsky: “It’s in our interest and in our employees’ best interest to make sure the roadwork gets done and it gets done on schedule.”

mreynold@projo.com