PROVIDENCE — Walkers and bikers alike will have to wait a while longer to trek across the Providence River via the new pedestrian bridge that will connect Downtown Providence to Fox Point neighborhood.
Construction on the new bridge is now estimated to be completed by August 2019, approximately 10 months later than originally scheduled. The project was initially slated to finish up by this fall.
R.I. Department of Transportation spokesperson Charles St. Martin confirmed Monday the project’s new time frame after pictures showing changes to the “RhodeWorks” schedule sign near the bridge work began appearing on social media over the weekend.
St. Martin said the steel fabricator for the project, High Steel Structures LLC, informed RIDOT last spring the steel for the $21.9 million bridge that is part of redeveloping the former Interstate 195 land could not be fabricated due to discrepancies in the bridge plans. The fabricator then had to go back and work with the contractor, Daniel O’Connell’s Sons, and designer, BuroHappold Engineering, to correct it. That process took from April 2017 until December 2017, St. Martin said in an email.
“These pieces are custom made,” St. Martin said. “This is not your average bridge.”
RIDOT had been working with its contractor to recover lost time in the schedule beginning with the first shipment of steel in November 2017 for the bridge’s west side. But, RIDOT couldn’t recover that lost time because, St. Martin said, the steel for the bridge’s east side didn’t arrive until last month.
“This delay was further affected by the fabricator’s production schedule,” St. Martin said in the email. “It is common among manufacturers of steel to allot particular time slots for projects. Missing those time slots due to the discrepancies contributed to the overall delay in the project.”
St. Martin also said the delay might impact the construction budget. He said RIDOT will consider “legal remedies” to “mitigate the impact of the delay and any additional costs that may be incurred.”
Once completed, the bridge will connect walkways and parks to be built on the east and west sides of the Providence River. It is also projected to connect new economic development opportunities in Providence’s new Innovation and Design district.
Joseph F. Azrack, then chairman for the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission, said in 2015 a bridge crossing the river would be critically important for land development on opposite ends of the river.
According to RIDOT’s website, the installing of structural steel along the bridge’s east side and fence along Dyer Street will take place starting next week.
James Bessette is a PBN staff writer. He can be reached at Research@PBN.com.
