Bridge in Fall River each day.
Braga Bridge reconstruction and other work along I-195 corridor vexes motorists
Geralyn Hafey’s typical 30-minute commute from her Fall River home to her office
at Care New England in Providence has turned into an hour-long test of patience,
thanks to a construction project on the Braga Bridge.
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The first phase of the project on the bridge – which carries 78,000 passengers daily – will end in November, but relief is far from over.
Just as commuters like Hafey creep past jersey barriers narrowing the Braga Bridge, which spans from Fall River to Somerset over the Taunton River, the orange barrels start to appear again in East Providence because of new construction to the Warren Avenue Bridge.
Then there’s the Taunton Avenue Bridge project, the ongoing Washington Bridge rehabilitation and the many other construction projects related to the Interstate 195 relocation that will present traffic obstacles some time into 2007 or 2008.
“I used to leave my house at 7:30 a.m. to be at work at 8, but if I did that now the bridge would be too packed,” said Hafey. “It’s a nightmare.”
Before construction, the Braga Bridge had three lanes in each direction plus a breakdown lane. There are now two narrow lanes each way, causing slow-moving traffic for commuters, according to Judith Forman, assistant press secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation and Construction.
“With a project like this, it is hard to estimate the additional time for a typical commuter. The restriction to two travel lanes is approximately 6,000-feet long over the bridge and approaches, so some additional time would seem reasonable,” she said. “Problems can occur when there’s an accident within the restricted lanes. Depending on the nature of the accident and the size of the vehicles involved, the road can be partially or fully blocked until the vehicles are removed.”
Phase one of the Braga Bridge work is scheduled for completion in November, but the second phase of the $9.1 million project will start in March 2005, just when the Broadway Bridge in East Providence is scheduled for re-surfacing. The Braga Bridge project will be completed November 2005.
Motorists can also expect delays in East Providence at the Warren Avenue Bridge.
“The bridge is less than 100-feet long, but because there will be only two lanes in each direction, we expect a five- to 10-minute delay,” said Jim Caroselli, chief civil engineering and construction operator with the Rhode Island Department of Transportation. “We’ll have two trucks on-hand during peak hours because if a car breaks down or there is an accident, there is no where for them to go.”
The Warren Avenue Bridge project will continue through the end of the year, and resume when the weather permits construction again next year. It is expected to take one year to complete. In addition to the constricted west-bound lanes of Warren Avenue, the I-195 Taunton Avenue Bridge ramp construction in East Providence will continue until June, when it will be completed.
Work is being done below the Broadway Bridge and won’t affect traffic until next March when work on the surface begins. The ongoing Washington Bridge rehabilitation is affecting only east-bound traffic now, Caroselli said.
The Interstate 195 construction projects are part of the highway relocation and rehabilitation plans, which are broken up into 15 separate construction contracts.
The project also includes a new 900-foot Providence River Bridge, a new interchange between I-195 and I-95, the reconstruction and realignment of two miles of highway and 1.5 new miles of highway, according to the Maguire Group, the engineering firm responsible for the project.
Commuters familiar with the Providence area have been avoiding construction by using the Wamponoag Trail in East Providence instead, though there aren’t any detour signs, Caroselli said.
Commuters traveling from Fall River have no detour signs to follow, but those familiar with the area use the Brightman Street Bridge/Route 6 through Somerset as an alternate route, congesting that area as well, according to Somerset Police Sgt. Thomas Mello.
“When there are accidents, it causes congestion problems (in Somerset). Traffic flows alright as long as there aren’t any accidents,” Mello said.
Hafey said she’s shaved time off her commute by using the Brightman Street Bridge, but when it opens to let boats pass, commuters lose more time than they save.
The Braga Bridge project is considered an interstate bridge maintenance project, and is 80 percent federally funded and 20 percent state funded.
There are no plans to paint the green, rusted structure canopying the Braga Bridge under the current contract and there are no pending plans for it, but Forman said the MassHighway Department will address the issue once the bridge deck repair is complete.
“I don’t have a timeline on that but it’s fair to say that the paint job is on our radar here at MassHighway and we will get to it as soon as possible,” she said.
