A year ago Gov. Gina M. Raimondo made clear that the bridges of the 6-10 connector in Providence needed to be replaced, and now.
The public reacted to a rushed plan to duplicate the old highway with strong negativity, saying that the mistake made decades earlier in breaking up a thriving neighborhood should not be repeated.
The state listened and undertook a more-considered process, which has yielded a plan that is designed to serve both the state’s transportation needs and the desire of the neighborhood to be reinvigorated.
In the meantime the bridges in need of repair have been shored up, but not replaced or closed. Work on the new plan has been proceeding, although physical work is not expected to start before the end of the year (and finish by 2023).
“Working diligently in the background since December,” as a state Department of Transportation spokesman said, is laudable. But it’s just as important that the citizenry is kept abreast of that work, no matter that it’s not about big machines doing their jobs just yet.