More than $700 million in active construction this year
The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) today kicked off the 2019 construction season at the I-295 bridges over Plainfield Pike on the Johnston/Cranston line. The $22.6 million project is one of many large-scale bridge projects underway this year as part of Governor Raimondo's RhodeWorks program to bring Rhode Island's roads and bridges into a state of good repair.
Three out of the four bridges in this project, called I-295 Bridges Contract 1, are rated as structurally deficient. Built between 1968 and 1969, they carry 82,000 vehicles per day. In addition to the two bridges that carry I-295 north and south over Plainfield Pike, RIDOT is also repairing two bridges just south of the Plainfield Pike intersection which pass over an aqueduct for the Providence Water Supply Board. This buried 90-inch diameter pipe carries much of the water used by Rhode Island residents.
RIDOT will have 77 active projects this year with a construction value of $715.6 million. These projects include a combination of bridge repair, replacement, and preservation activities on 177 bridges.
"We have another banner year for construction, with hundreds of millions of dollars of construction underway and scores of new, well-paying jobs rebuilding Rhode Island," Governor Raimondo said. "We're delivering on the promises in RhodeWorks to pull us out of the bottom of lists that talk about poor roads and bridges and move us toward a day when we'll rank among the top states in the country with a well-maintained transportation system."
"We have more construction happening on our roads and bridges than at any time in RIDOT's history, and people are seeing the improvements, the strides we are making," RIDOT Director Peter Alviti, Jr. said. "This 2019 construction season will be another major down payment on our comeback story to deliver a safe, high-quality transportation system."
For the I-295 Bridges Contract 1 project, RIDOT is constructing temporary bridge sections in the median between northbound and southbound bridges. By doing this, RIDOT will have adequate space to shift traffic during demolition and reconstruction activities with no long-term lane or exit closures.
Other highlights of the 2019 construction season include:
Route 6-10 Interchange Project: RIDOT is entering its second full year of construction on this $410 million project to replace seven out of nine structurally deficient bridges in the interchange. Construction includes the critical "missing move" to connect Route 10 North to Route 6 West. Following numerous traffic pattern shifts last fall, construction continued through the winter with demolition of old bridge sections, earthwork and foundation work for new bridges.
Route 37 Bridges: In the fall RIDOT will begin repairs on 15 bridges on Route 37 from Post Road in Warwick to the Pontiac Avenue interchange. The project will make improvements to ease congestion and improve safety at the Pontiac Avenue interchange ($58.9 million).
I-95 Bridges: This year RIDOT will have seven large bridge projects on the I-95 corridor including the bridges carrying the highway over Centerville Road and Toll Gate Road in Warwick ($25.3 million), the Kingston Road Bridge at the Route 138 interchange in Hope Valley ($21.3 million), the I-95 Corridor Bridges project for bridges over Roosevelt Avenue and East Street in Pawtucket ($19.1 million), the Victory Highway Bridge (Route 102) over I-95 at Exit 5 ($19 million), The Wood River Valley Bridge north of Exit 2 at the Hopkinton/Richmond line ($16.8 million), the Oxford Street Bridge, between Exits 18 and 19 in Providence ($10.1 million), and the Baker's Pine Bridge at Exit 4 in Richmond ($9.4 million).
I-295 Bridges: In addition to the bridges project at Plainfield Pike, RIDOT has two other major projects along this highway corridor. They include the $42.6 million I-295 Bridges Contract 2 project, replacing four bridges over Routes 6 and 6A in Johnston, and the Cumberland I-295 Corridor Bridges that carry the highway over Scott and Leigh roads in Cumberland ($20.1 million).
All the projects in the 2019 construction season are 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.