R.I. avoided worst-case scenario on Washington Bridge. What are best options to fund replacing it?

Christopher Shea

04/01/2024

Infrastructure Bridge Safety Rhode Island — Diverted traffic, including an ambulance on a call, passes a closed portion of the Washington Bridge, in East Providence. The deadly collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday, which left six people dead, showed the worst case scenario that Rhode Island officials said could have happened to the western Washington Bridge had it not been abruptly shut down last December. Broken anchor rods put the circa 1968 Washington Bridge crossed by 96,000 vehicles a day at risk of collapsing into the Seekonk River. / ASSOCIATED PRESS / CHARLES KRUPA

And now we know what a catastrophe looks like. The deadly collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, which left six people dead, showed the worst case scenario that Rhode Island officials said could have happened to the western Washington Bridge had it not been abruptly shut down last December. Broken anchor

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