PROVIDENCE – Lawmakers on Monday questioned R.I. Department of Transportation Director Peter Alviti Jr. on the state's ongoing response to the failure of the Washington Bridge.
Alviti told lawmakers the December incident, which involved closing the westbound lanes of Interstate 195 across the bridge after engineers found “a critical failure” of some of the bridge’s original components that date back to the 1960s, was an “anomaly” among the hundreds of projects the department has completed during his tenure.
Rep. Patricia Serpa, D-West Warwick, chairwoman of the House oversight committee, said the opening hearing was mostly an information gathering session and additional meetings would be scheduled as the various inquires and investigations are finished. Committee members wanted to know how a bridge that was inspected in July could fail less than six months later.
Despite the longer commutes and effects on local businesses and organizations, both public and private, Alviti told the R.I. House Committee on Oversight and the R.I. Senate Committee on Rules, Government Ethics and Oversight that a potential catastrophe was avoided, and he accepted responsibility for the closure of the westbound lanes.
“We know that it's made things very difficult,” he said. "I am truly sorry."
Still, Sen. Mark P. McKenney, D-Warwick, chairman of the Senate oversight committee, said the crisis could be indicative of structural issues not only within the state's aging infrastructure but the transportation department itself.
"There are concerns that go beyond this bridge. ... It also appears that this could be a failure of other things," he said. "We don't know. But that is how many see it right now.”
Alviti said he welcomed the inquiry, acknowledging he would have liked to have been informed earlier of concerns brought forth by Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc., the private engineering consultant on the ongoing bridge repairs. Alviti said he was working remotely when he was informed of the problems with the bridge, recovering from a bronchial infection, but he reported immediately to his office.
Alviti said RIDOT is working around the clock and vowed “the fastest procurement process and most effective and efficient delivery method" once the scope of the fix is determined.
“We eat, drink and sleep the problems of this every day," he said. "And [we are] trying to find the solutions to it for everyone.”
Alviti said a forensic analysis is currently underway that will determine the fate of the bridge, which should be delivered by early March. In total, seven engineering companies are now assisting RIDOT with assessments.
Asked if the department has made any policy changes in response to the crisis, Alviti said it had increased the number of inspections on the state's more than 1,100 bridges.
“We are getting a bit more granular," he said.
As for his opinion of whether the bridge would need to be torn down and rebuilt, Alviti said that time will tell.
"I want to know that too," he said.
Rep. Lauren Carson, D-Newport, questioned the number of different agencies and private companies now involved in the response and wondered if it would hamper the process.
"There are a lot of players at the table and it can be challenging to get them all to move in the same direction," she said.
RIDOT has been ordered by the U.S. Department of Justice and the inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation to furnish documents dating back to 2015 as part of its investigation into the bridge failure, including previous inspections and payment claims submitted to the federal government.
R.I. House Minority Leader Michael W. Chippendale grilled Alviti on what he said are discrepancies in the documents and reports provided to the committee, such as altered dates.
"That calls into question if anything in the report can be relied on," he said.
Questioned on reported tensions and a toxic workplace environment within the department, Alviti blamed a cohort of employees "resistant to change" and unsupportive labor union leaders and defended his management since taking over the department in 2015 when 27% of Rhode Island's bridges were structurally deficient, he said, adding "many of them at the same level that the Washington bridge is."
Christopher Allen is a PBN staff writer. You may contact him at Allen@PBN.com.