CRANSTON – The R.I. Department of Transportation will repair, replace or eliminate 15 bridges along the Interstate 95 corridor from Providence to Warwick by 2031, drawing from what officials say is "the largest-ever federal grant awarded to RIDOT."
The project, slated to cost $779 million in total, will target structures that RIDOT identified as in poor or low-fair condition under the department's 10-year plan. State, local and federal officials gathered in Cranston Aug. 16 to share details on the previously-announced project.
A $251.1 million allocation from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bridge Investment Program, announced last month, will support the construction and demolition.
The state applied for this funding prior to the Washington Bridge closure, officials previously said.
An estimated 185,000 vehicles travel through the Providence-Cranston-Warwick corridor of I-95 each day, according to RIDOT, including around 9,000 trucks and heavy freight vehicles.
Rhode Island will contribute a $62.75 million match for that award. Additionally, the department will draw from $411.8 million in Statewide Transportation Improvement Program dollars, $42.76 million in reallocated funds, and a $10.69 million state match for reallocated funds, said RIDOT spokesperson Charles St. Martin III.
RIDOT will share details on road closures and other traffic impacts as design and construction plans progress, St. Martin said, but these announcements will come "well in advance" of the bridge work.
The department anticipates that the first bridge scheduled for replacement, I-95 over Elmwood Avenue, will take place through "a series of weekend lane closures, much like the rapid replacement of the Wellington Avenue Bridge last fall," St. Martin said.
"We expect two weekends of lane closures will be needed this fall, with another two yet to be scheduled," he continued.
After beginning in the fall, the 15-bridge project is set to conclude within approximately six years.
One bridge scheduled for demolition without replacement, designated as Bridge 675 at Park Avenue and Route 10, will be rebuilt as a boulevard at the same grade and include a traffic signal, "eliminating the need for a bridge here," St. Martin said.
The new boulevard's construction will include a bike path along the road, he added, and facilitate "more green spaces compared to the existing design where the Route 10 interchange is today."
RIDOT will also remove the following three bridges without replacement:
- Bridge 658, at Narragansett Electric Co.
- Bridges 662 and 663, ramp bridges that "will be eliminated as part of the realignment of Route 10."
The remaining 11 bridges will undergo repairs or removal and replacement. RIDOT rates nine of those bridges as in poor condition and including structural deficiencies, with six in low-fair condition.
Three of the fifteen bridges are among the state's top five most traveled structurally deficient bridges, according to RIDOT.
Skanska, McCourt and Aetna Bridge Co. will oversee the design-build process. Aetna Bridge was among the 13 companies that the state last week named in a lawsuit
That lawsuit, filed in Providence County Superior Court by R.I. Attorney General Peter F. Neronha, alleges that Aetna and 12 other companies that provided design, construction and inspection services to the Washington Bridge did not provide timely or adequate notice to the state on the bridge's worsening structural issues.
The Washington Bridge has remained closed since December, and Rhode Island continues to seek a company to rebuild it following a complete demolition.
RIDOT director Peter Alviti Jr. remained optimistic about the state's overall bridge infrastructure work on Friday.
"A grant of this magnitude sends a clear message," Alviti said in a statement on the 15-bridge allocation. "It demonstrates the confidence the federal government has in the state's ability to deliver high-quality projects.
"It will eliminate nine more deficient bridges from our inventory and assures, along with our many other projects, that we'll hit our 10 percent bridge deficient goal in 2026 as promised in the first 10 years of RhodeWorks," Alviti continued.
Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Voghel@PBN.com.
