RIDOT REOPENING BRIDGE, CLOSING ANOTHER IN EAST PROVIDENCE
The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) announced the next phase of a multi-bridge project in East Providence with the reopening of the Purchase Street Bridge on Wednesday, September 26.
The bridge was closed in late May for concrete repairs, bridge joint work and resurfacing.
The 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.
When the Purchase Street Bridge reopens, RIDOT will close the nearby Lyon Avenue Bridge.
The bridge will remain closed for three to four months.
RIDOT completed work on the first bridge, the Potter Street Bridge, this spring.
Work on these bridges is part of the $20.7 million I-195 Corridor Bridges project, which also includes the replacement of the Parkway Ramp Bridge.
That bridge carries traffic from Veterans Memorial Parkway and Warren Avenue, and closed in April.
The bridge will be completed in late fall, however work on the nearby Washington Bridge will extend its reopening until the end of 2019.
The project also includes replacement of the superstructure of the Blackstone Street Bridge, which carries I-95 over Blackstone Street near the Rhode Island hospitals campus.
The street itself, between Eddy Street and Allens Avenue, remains closed through the end of the year.
RIDOT this past weekend removed a lane split on I-95 and installed a left lane shift as part of the third and final phase of work on this structure.
All five bridges were rated as structurally deficient. All schedules are weather-dependent and subject to change.
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.
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