Providence & RI Infrastructure

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kmp1284

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This is going to be disastrous …

"Critical failure" closes I-195 west on Washington Bridge in Providence, Rhode Island​


PROVIDENCE, RI - Massachusetts drivers traveling towards Rhode Island are being warned to anticipate delays due to the closure of the westbound lanes of I-195 on the Washington Bridge in Providence. It could take months until the bridge is reopened.

www.cbsnews.com

"Critical failure" closes I-195 west on Washington Bridge in Providence, Rhode Island

Massachusetts drivers traveling towards Rhode Island are being warned to anticipate delays due to the closure of the westbound lanes of the Washington Bridge.
www.cbsnews.com www.cbsnews.com
 
This bridge used to handle some 100,000 vehicle crossings per day. I assume this number was for both directions. That would mean approximately 50,000 crossings will now have to find an alternate west bound path. The only nearby option is the new Henderson Bridge which will dramatically increase traffic and clog the neighborhood roads in East Providence and the East Side of Providence. This will be a nightmare for all.
 
Riverside said:
The Globe article is absolutely wild: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/12...95-westbound-bridge-closed-ri-dot-chief-says/

It was noticed by happenstance. By an engineer working on another bridge. Nearly a mile upriver. Literally this problem could be seen from a mile away — usually we use that phrase figuratively, and yet…
Click to expand...
Did I miss the "mile away" part? The article says, "a young engineer working on the demolition of an old bridge deck happened to look over at the adjacent westbound bridge and thought, “That doesn’t look right.” This bridge is two separate spans, so it reads to me like this engineer was on the eastbound span and looked across (20-30 feet, maybe) at the westbound span and saw the bouncing as traffic past over. Make no mistake, it's pretty wild anyway. But I don't think it was literally spotted from a mile away.
 
Lrfox said:
Did I miss the "mile away" part? The article says, "a young engineer working on the demolition of an old bridge deck happened to look over at the adjacent westbound bridge and thought, “That doesn’t look right.” This bridge is two separate spans, so it reads to me like this engineer was on the eastbound span and looked across (20-30 feet, maybe) at the westbound span and saw the bouncing as traffic past over. Make no mistake, it's pretty wild anyway. But I don't think it was literally spotted from a mile away.
Click to expand...
Hmm yeah that does look like a misreading on my part. They’ve been doing work on the Henderson Bridge (about a mile away) and they just opened a new span on it, so maybe I just connected that opening with demolition of the old bridge? But you are right, there’s no mention of the Henderson Bridge, and these do sound like details that wouldn’t be visible at that distance.

But yeah, like you say it’s still crazy: noticed by happenstance, shut down with the apparent urgency of an immediate risk of collapse.
 
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