RI Changes Strategy on Washington Bridge Rebuild Once Again - With No Timeline for Completion

RI Changes Strategy on Washington Bridge Rebuild Once Again - With No Timeline for Completion

When Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee and the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) announced the failure of the Washington Bridge in December 2023, state officials said the expected time frame for bridge repairs was 90 days.

Then in March of 2024, state officials unveiled a new timeline and said a new bridge was slated to be completed by 2026 - before no companies bid on a request for proposals for a rebuild. 

All the while, businesses impacted by the failure of the bridge and state government closed due to its impact. 

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

Now, Rhode Island has announced yet its latest strategy — a new two-step procurement process “Request for Qualifications” from companies, to occur at the same time that Aetna — who the state is suing — has been granted a change order to demolish the substructure of the bridge. 

And McKee and RIDOT said they can no longer provide Rhode Islanders with a timeline for the completion of a new bridge. 

“Questions about the schedule and cost and scope and what it will actually look like, until we go through these next several months and select one of [the compaines]...that will determine how quickly, how expensively, and what it will look like," said RIDOT Director Peter Alviti on Tuesday. "Those are all factors in the selection of a company.”

The press conference came on the heels of a disastrous RIDOT online “community meeting” with neighbors to the bridge demolition on Friday, which took 8 minutes and did not allow for questions. 

McKee has since apologized for RIDOT’s lack of transparency and accountability, and another meeting has now been scheduled for Thursday, October 17, in which McKee and Alviti have said they will attend - and that questions will be answered this time. 

 

Latest “Timeline” 

On Monday, McKee and Alviti announced that the new RFQ is now open for the Washington Bridge rebuild with a “shortlist” of finalists to be named on December 15. 

“If RIDOT determines that the feedback received will result in better proposals from the companies (particularly in terms of time and cost), the feedback will be incorporated into an addendum to the RFP and posted on January 24, 2025,” said McKee’s office in a statement, adding that a tentative award will be then made in June of 2025.

On Monday, McKee defended the change order for the demolition of the substructure being awarded to Aetna, which the State of Rhode Island is suing. 

McKee and Alviti refused to provide the taxpayer with the cost of that change order on Monday, saying it was still subject to approval.