The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) announced that it will close the Wilbur Road Bridge over Route 146 in Lincoln on Thursday, August 26, 2010. The bridge will remain closed until Summer 2011 as part of a project to resurface a portion of Route 146 and replace the bridge.
The 57-year-old span is considered structurally deficient and lacks adequate overhead clearance. The underside of the bridge has been struck repeatedly over the years by high-profile trucks and currently has a single-lane alternating traffic pattern due to the damage and deterioration.
A few days after the bridge closure, on August 29, RIDOT will conduct a series of overnight highway closures on Route 146 to allow for safe demolition of the bridge. The closures will take place from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. each night. The closures will last for approximately one week. Additional overnight closures will be scheduled in late Fall. All schedules are weather-dependent and subject to change.
Signed detours will be in place for all closures. Local traffic on Wilbur Road should use Great Road or Old Louisquisset Pike to reach either Breakneck Hill Road (Route 123) or George Washington Highway (Route 116).
During overnight highway closures, through traffic on Route 146 North will be required to exit onto Breakneck Hill Road and traffic on Route 146 South will have to exit at George Washington Highway. All traffic will use Old Louisquisset Pike as a detour during these closures.
RIDOT also has various on-ramps to and from Route 146 closed as part of this project, and nightly lane closures are ongoing for resurfacing operations. Detour maps for all closures can be found online at: http://www.dot.ri.gov/travelri/detourmaps.asp.
This Spring, RIDOT began construction on Route 146 from south of the Sherman Avenue exit to the area of the Route 116 interchange. The resurfacing portion of the $8.2 million project – funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 – is expected to conclude later this fall, with the entire project continuing until Summer 2011.
Motorists with questions can contact RIDOT’s Customer Service office at 401-222-2450 weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Additional information will be available on RIDOT’s website (www.dot.ri.gov) and its social media sites on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and Blogger.
Contact: Charles St. Martin 401-222-1362 x4007