PROVIDENCE – Plans to preserve and repurpose the Crook Point Bascule Bridge are still on after the R.I. Department of Transportation found no major damage from a recent fire.
RIDOT in a statement on Thursday said that the 113-year-old bridge was still safe and structurally sound, despite a fire that started on its upper ties on June 29. The state agency had said previously if the bridge was no severely damaged or unsafe, it would speed up plans for demolition rather than transferring ownership to the city of Providence, which intends to preserve and repurpose the local landmark as a community space.
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RIDOT’s hands-on inspection earlier this week follows drone surveillance which also suggested the earlier fire did not compromise the structure’s integrity. About 60 loose or burned pieces of timber have been removed, RIDOT said.
The state agency plans to to hand over the bridge, owned by the quasi-public R.I. Public Rail Corp., to the city this summer, contingent upon approval by the Public Rail Corp. and Providence Redevelopment Agency. Last month, Mayor Jorge O. Elorza named Providence-firm Horsley Witten Group & Jonathan Harris the winner of its design competition for its plan to incorporate a boardwalk, a dock and a small event stage, and illuminated art on the raised bridge truss structure.
Once part of a rail line connected to the Providence terminal – originally for passengers and later for freight trains- the abandoned steel railway drawbridge has been suspended over the Seekonk River since the 1970s, PBN has reported.
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Lavin@PBN.com.
Waste of taxpayer dollars. Put the money into schools and roads and bridges we can actually drive over.
Great project – just another tile that enhances the quality of life mosaic of the capital city.