Governor Lincoln D. Chafee and Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) Director Michael P. Lewis will head to the West Bay on Friday, April 5, 2013 to announce a new bridge preservation program aimed at better maintenance of State-owned bridges. A press conference will be held at 2 p.m. in the parking lot of Image Printing, located at 33 Plan Way in Warwick, overlooking one of the bridges to be addressed, the Hillsgrove Bridge that carries Service Avenue over I-95 in Warwick.
The program's goal is to address issues with steel and concrete deterioration that decrease the service life of these bridges and leads to more expensive rehabilitation or replacement projects that often involve full reconstruction of major bridge elements. The first contract, currently underway through a $4.9 million investment, will cover 13 bridges in the I-95 corridor from Warwick to Providence. Other bridges will be addressed as funding becomes available.
Contact: Heidi Gudmundson (401) 222-1362, Ext. 4009