Head of Federal Highway Is Visiting RI - He Previously Worked for Washington Bridge Contractor

Head of Federal Highway Is Visiting RI - He Previously Worked for Washington Bridge Contractor

Federal Highway Administrator (FHWA) Shailen Bhatt is scheduled to tour the Washington Bridge on Monday along with Governor Dan McKee, RI Department of Transportation Director Peter Alviti, members of the Congressional delegation, and other officials.

According to previous statements by the McKee administration, the FHWA is conducting an "investigation" into the Washington Bridge failure. That investigation is separate from the U.S. Department of Justice investigation unveiled ten days ago.

Just 13 months ago, directly prior to his federal appointment, Bhatt served as a top executive for AECOM. 

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AECOM has been a leading contractor on the Washington Bridge rehab for about a decade, and AECOM executives have donated more than $40,000 in contributions to top Rhode Island politicians.

During the time in which Bhatt worked at AECOM (2021 and 2022), the state of Rhode Island paid millions of dollars to AECOM.

According to Rhode Island payment records, AECOM was paid nearly $6 million in 2021, $4.2 million in 2022, more than $2 million in 2023. Records previous to 2021 are not publicly available presently.

A GoLocal review of AECOM’S work in 2018 unveiled that between 2016 and 2018, AECOM was paid more than $12.4 million by the State of Rhode Island.

 

AECOM at the Center of Previous Washington Bridge Controversy

In 2018, just weeks before the Democratic primary, the RIDOT construction project and lane shift caused traffic chaos. Drivers were caught in hours of delays coming into Providence on the same westbound lanes of I-195.

After a few days, Raimondo ordered the work to stop and to restore the traffic pattern.

Following the massive traffic delays when the 195 Gano Street closure was rolled out, GoLocal in 2018 requested the project's impact study and it took days for RIDOT officials to provide the AECOM report to GoLocal.

Alviti has already admitted that AECOM's 2015 report is under fire.

“That’ll all be part of what we’re looking at,” said Alviti in response to a question from WPRI about the possibility of getting a refund. “We will be revisiting to see...where the responsibility lies.”

The AECOM study stated, “This report summarizes the traffic operations for the proposed Washington Bridge rehabilitation on I-195 westbound mainline and traffic detours during the peak hours. The VISSIM simulation model that was developed as part of the Washington Bridge North No. 700-Technical Evaluation Report has been utilized to further analyze the traffic operations on I-195 westbound mainline for the preferred bridge construction alternative.”

On Tuesday, November 13, 2018, just one week after Raimondo was reelected — defeating Republican Allan Fung — the 195 westbound construction resumed.

Alviti's office had announced the resumption of the construction of the westbound side of I-195. “This change will allow for continued rehabilitation of this important structure, which is classified as structurally deficient,” said RIDOT in their press release.

AECOM's analysis was wrong. It is unclear if Rhode Island ever received a credit.

But what is clear is that while AECOM work was questioned and the company was receiving tens of millions in contracts, AECOM executives were writing checks to Rhode Island politicians.

 

$40,000 in Donations to Raimondo, Shekarchi 

Raimondo was the big winner of the AECOM money machine, receiving $21,650 in donations from AECOM executives.

Speaker of the House Joe Shekarchi has received $1,250 in payments to his campaign from AECOM executives.

Nearly $20,000 in additional donations went to a range of Rhode Island officials.