The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) announced that adverse weather has forced a postponement of construction activities slated to take place this week in East Providence.
Tonight's overnight closure of I-195 West has been postponed to tomorrow night, Wednesday, September 26. The closure, scheduled to take place from midnight to 4 a.m., is the last in a series of overnight highway closures needed for the safe installation of new steel girders for the Parkway Ramp Bridge. The closures will be similar to the ones that happened this past spring for demolition, which were successfully implemented with no adverse impact to traffic.
During Wednesday night's closure, traffic on I-195 West will use Exit 6 to Broadway, and then follow a detour route using Waterman Avenue, Hall Street, Taunton Avenue and John Street before returning to Taunton Avenue and using the on-ramp to I-195. RIDOT will deploy personnel and police officers to assist detouring traffic at key intersections. Delays are expected. Motorists may wish to choose an alternate route. A detour map is available at www.ridot.net/DetourMaps.
Also postponed this week is the planned reopening of the Purchase Street Bridge, originally scheduled to open tomorrow. The bridge is now scheduled to reopen on Monday, October 1. The bridge was closed in late May for concrete repairs, bridge joint work and resurfacing.
When the Purchase Street Bridge reopens, RIDOT will close the nearby Lyon Avenue Bridge. The bridge will remain closed for three to four months. This multi-bridge project involves work on three bridges over I-195 that are close to one another, each serving local traffic in the neighborhoods north and south of the highway corridor between School Street and Freeborn Avenue. Two out of the three bridges will be kept open at all times to minimize disruption for traffic using either of the other two bridges as a detour. RIDOT completed work on the first bridge, the Potter Street Bridge, this spring.
All schedules are weather-dependent and subject to change.
The Parkway Bridge, the three neighborhood bridges and Blackstone Street Bridge in Providence are part of the $20.7 million I-195 Corridor Bridges project. In total, it will rehabilitate or replace five structurally deficient bridges.
The I-195 Corridor Bridges Project was made possible by RhodeWorks, RIDOT's ongoing commitment to repair structurally deficient bridges and bring Rhode Island's transportation infrastructure into a state of good repair, promote economic development, and create jobs. Learn more at www.ridot.net/RhodeWorks.