The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) is posting East Providence’s East Shore Expressway Bridge over Warren Avenue at 17 tons. The posting will be installed on I-195 East on the Exit 7 off-ramp (Barrington - Route 114 South). Signs and detours will be put in place this weekend.
“Safety is the Department’s number one priority,” said RIDOT Director Michael P. Lewis. “Passenger vehicles will not be impacted and will continue to be able to cross this bridge.”
This detour should only affect fully loaded trucks. It is estimated that only 5 percent of the 22,400 vehicles that travel over the bridge will be required to follow the approximately 2.5 mile detour.
The signed Rhode Island detour for vehicles over 17 tons will be:
I-195 East to Exit 8 (Pawtucket Avenue, Seekonk, MA, Route 6 to Route 1A and Route 114); Right onto Warren Avenue (Route 6); Left onto Pawtucket Avenue (Route 114); Left onto Wampanoag Trail (Route 114) until it intersects with the East Shore Expressway.
This concrete bridge structure (Bridge #475) was originally built in 1959. Every bridge in Rhode Island is inspected at least every two years.
