EXCLUSIVE: Drone Shows Dust Blowing Towards Neighbors’ Homes During Washington Bridge Demo

EXCLUSIVE: Drone Shows Dust Blowing Towards Neighbors’ Homes During Washington Bridge Demo

Overnight demolition of the Washington Bridge is spewing dust on the homes in the Fox Point neighborhood in Providence. 

GoLocal launched a drone on Sunday night to capture the demolition and the impact on the adjacent homes just a few hundred feet away.

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Fox Point residents know they live next to a busy highway, but they did not sign up for oversight jackhammering and dust — dust that neither the State of Rhode Island nor the City of Providence are monitoring.

The demolition is five nights a week for eight more hours.

 

Drone Video Captures Dust Blowing

At the beginning of the video — filming started a little after 9:30 PM —  a worker can be seen spraying water in an effort to minimize the dust, but that only lasted a few minutes.

Even while the worker was spraying, significant dust can be seen blowing towards the homes.

As GoLocal first reported, Fox Point neighbors have repeatedly complained about the noise from the overnight jackhammering.

In other states, specific environmental controls are required to address the environmental risks relating to demolition. 

In California, the Department of Transportation, known as Caltrans, has regulations to control dust emissions. 

According to Caltrans: 

Nuisance dust can be a hazard and adequate control is required. Water is a common dust palliative used during bridge removal.

Often, dust generated by bridge removal activities has an increased hazard potential. Saw cutting or grinding concrete, or any activity that places silica into the air, is a concern. Excavations that disturb the aerially deposited lead near transportation facilities might produce hazardous dust.

The Contract Specifications, Section 14-11.04, Environmental Stewardship – Hazardous Waste and Contamination – Dust Control, requires any activity that might generate hazardous dust must not result in visible dust migration.

 

Silica Dangers — Workers and Neighbors

Silica came to prominent attention due to its link to illness and deaths of emergency responders and workers tied to 9/11.

According to CDC:

Construction dust can cause serious damage to workers’ health and life-threatening diseases. Construction workers can be exposed to many types of dust, such as silica, wood, and lead dust. Workplace exposure to small particles of silica dust, also known as respirable crystalline silica, can lead to serious diseases, including silicosis, a progressive lung disease marked by scarring and thickening of the lung tissue; lung cancer; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); and kidney disease. It’s estimated that about 2 million construction workers are exposed to silica dust on the job [CDC 2020].

NIOSH sets Recommended Exposure Limits (RELs), including a suggested limit of exposure to silica dust. A recent study of workers exposed to silica dust by industry published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine found that of 100,000 workers who were exposed above the NIOSH REL, 8 out of 10 of those workers were in the construction industry [Doney et al. 2020].

Construction workers can be exposed to silica dust from many sources. For example, concrete workers can be exposed to silica dust during mixing, sawing, jackhammering, chipping, grinding, and cleaning operations. Masons can be exposed when cutting concrete blocks and bricks, mixing mortar, and tuckpointing.

 

Contractor Directs Calls to RIDOT

GoLocal contacted Aetna Bridge, the demolition contractor. The company's spokesman directed all calls to RIDOT.

In late June, RIDOT awarded Aetna Bridge three major contracts even though it was the high bidder.

Ironically, the contract Aetna was awarded was for the demolition of Washington Bridge — the very bridge the state alleged that Aetna contributed to its failure. Rhode Island is suing Aetna.

But Aetna won despite the higher price — $45,777,000.00 to Manafort’s bid of $43,849,500.00.

 

RI Air Pollution Complaints

Complaints about air pollution in Rhode Island can be filed with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management's (DEM) Office of Compliance and Inspection (OC&I): 

Email: Contact the OC&I by EMAIL HERE 
Phone: Call the OC&I during business hours at (401) 222-1360, or after hours at (401) 222-3070 

 

EDITOR'S NOTE: As GoLocal has chronicled, many of RIDOT's claims about the Washington Bridge during the past ten months have proven to be false.

GoLocal's drone production partner is Rhode Island-based Aerial Element.