December marked the one-year anniversary of the failure of the Washington Bridge, and General Assembly leaders are planning a January retrospective. Again.
House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi and Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio say they support a second round of public hearings on what led to the sudden closure and eventual demolition of the westbound bridge that carries Interstate 195 across the Seekonk River from East Providence to Providence.
And some are questioning whether it will accomplish anything worthwhile.
Last February, joint legislative committees on oversight grilled R.I. Department of Transportation Director Peter Alviti Jr., as well as Joseph Almond, Gov. Daniel J. McKee’s senior deputy chief of staff, and Jeffrey Klein, director of structural engineering for Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc., the consultant on the repairs that were underway before the westbound bridge closed.
Since then, outside law firms have come and gone. Lawsuits have been filed. The reconstruction project initially failed to attract bidders. And businesses have suffered.
This time around, Shekarchi is indicating he’d like to see hearings that are less confrontational.
While oversight committees have the power to issue subpoenas and put people testifying under oath, that won’t be necessary, according to Shekarchi. He is less interested in throwing arrows at the administration or RIDOT leaders than he is in learning about what has transpired in recent months, and what the total price tag will be for a new bridge.
“I have full faith and confidence in [Rep. Patricia A. Serpa, D-West Warwick, who is chairwoman of the House oversight committee],” he said. “Most important to me is we fully understand the costs as best we can.”
In the other chamber, Senate Majority Leader Valerie J. Lawson, D-East Providence, said that while it’s important to nail down a cost, getting to the bottom of what went wrong in the first place and the poor handling of the situation in the months afterward is equally crucial.
She thinks the stumbles that have occurred since the bridge failure in December 2023 have shaken the public’s faith in government. The goal of oversight hearings should be to prevent a similar crisis and response in the future.
But John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, expressed skepticism that lawmakers will focus on the right questions, saying he is “pessimistic that oversight hearings will be a useful exercise.”
Marion said the legislature for years has failed to adequately invest in its oversight functions, particularly for staffing, resulting in hearings that “are largely presentations by the administration without independent evaluation of the claims that are being made.”
A notable exception, Marion said, is in 2007 when the late Sen. J. Micheal Lenihan conducted hearings looking into the use of a temporary employment agency to fill for short-term projects without a bid by Republican Gov. Donald L. Carcieri’s administration.
But those inquires took place during “an era of divided party government,” said Marion, which “may have convinced the legislature to exercise its oversight function more vigorously.”
House Minority Leader Michael W. Chippendale, R-Foster, has “no real faith” any truth and accountability will take place come January before a panel that he says has been strategically “neutered.”
He said the only hope he has is that the potential of a Democrat challenger to McKee in the 2026 election could inspire the Democrat-dominated General Assembly to alter its posture toward the governor.
