PROVIDENCE – For the foreseeable future, motorists who regularly travel westbound on Interstate 195 across the Washington Bridge into the city will have to seek alternate routes.
The R.I. Department of Transportation announced late Monday that the I-195 westbound side of the bridge will be closed to all traffic starting Tuesday at 9 a.m., citing that the department found “a critical failure” of some of the bridge’s original components dating back to the 1960s.
Over the next two to three weeks, RIDOT will move eastbound traffic down to two lanes, at which time permanent repairs will start on the bridge’s westbound side. This, RIDOT says, will require the closure of two eastbound lanes in the area of Exit 1A for India Street starting Tuesday morning.
The repair process could be very lengthy. RIDOT says that depending on the severity of the problem, the repairs could three months or more.
“In the process of reconstructing the Washington Bridge, our consultants found urgent safety issues that could cause a critical deficiency on this side of the bridge,” RIDOT Director Peter Alviti Jr. said in a statement regarding the closure. “We are closing the westbound side until we can make it completely safe.”
The department says the Washington Bridge, which is currently undergoing a $78 million reconstruction project to address deficiencies and build a new off-ramp as part of the state’s Rhode Works initiative, carries approximately 96,000 vehicles per day. The closure of the bridge’s westbound side and partial eastbound lane closure will very likely cause significant traffic delays during high travel periods.
RIDOT says all traffic will be diverted to alternate routes from Exit 2 to Broadway toward the Henderson Bridge, which recently reopened after its reconstruction. Motorists will then be directed toward South Angell Street to Gano Street to rejoin I-195.
Motorists from Massachusetts are also being encouraged to take detoured routes on Pawtucket Avenue or Newport Avenue – particularly for truck drivers – or follow Route 24 North to Interstate 495, depending on what area they are driving from, RIDOT says.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
