Joint oversight hearing: DOT says Washington Bridge demolition mostly complete, expects contractor award June 6

Chairwoman Patricia Serpa and Senate Chairman Mark McKinney opened a joint oversight hearing with the Rhode Island Department of Transportation on the demolition and reconstruction of the Washington Bridge, saying lawmakers would limit questions that could affect pending litigation.

Director Alvedi of the Rhode Island Department of Transportation told the joint House and Senate oversight committees that demolition of the westbound superstructure is nearly finished and that the department expects to select a design-build contractor on June 6. "By June 6, we're gonna have a company selected," he said, adding that the winning proposal will set the fixed contract price and schedule.

The hearing focused on timelines, costs, funding and public communication. Joe Almond of the governor27s staff told legislators the administration has coordinated weekly with state agencies, independent engineers and local officials and secured $2,600,000 in grants for businesses in Providence and East Providence. Almond said the governor filed suit in Providence Superior Court on Aug. 16 naming multiple companies tied to the original bridge design, construction or inspection; Alvedi said the attorney general now manages that litigation and that DOT staff cannot discuss its details.

DOT provided a funding summary and a procurement schedule. The department reported receiving a $125,000,000 federal "mega" grant and a $95,600,000 federal INFRA grant, and said the combination of those awards with state bond authority and other allocations brought available funding for the rebuild to $713,000,000. Alvedi listed the major components of that total: $334,000,000 in Garvey bond authority approved by the legislature, $125,000,000 (federal), $95,600,000 (federal), $15,000,000 reallocated from an earlier BUILD grant, $35,000,000 from SFRF, $60,000,000 the legislature approved for bridge work, and $47,000,000 from RICAP/HMA matches.

On procurement, DOT said a design-build process had been narrowed to two international bridge builders (identified in committee discussion as Walsh Construction and American Bridge). DOT said technical proposals are due May 18, technical presentations will follow May 1923, price proposals are due May 30, and the department plans to award the contract June 6. Committee members asked about a stipend for unsuccessful proposers; Alvedi said the stipend for losing shortlisted firms is $1,750,000 to offset proposal development costs.

Demolition status and safety monitoring were major concerns for legislators from the East Bay. Alvedi said demolition of the superstructure was about 80% complete and that substructure demolition would start next month and is scheduled to finish by the end of the year. He described a tiered safety strategy for the eastbound span that continues to carry six lanes of traffic while the westbound side is rebuilt: frequent inspections, two independent structural-engineering reviews, installation of weigh-in-motion sensors already collecting data and a second set of "bridge health" sensors scheduled to be fully operational within weeks. "We have it inspected on a daily basis now as part of an engineering protocol," he said.

Members pressed about traffic speeds, enforcement and weight limits. DOT27s head bridge engineer, John Price, said the posted standard vehicle weight limit for bridges is 80,000 pounds (40 tons) and that DOT issues special permits up to 96,000 pounds for movement of oversize/overweight loads when necessary; DOT said it had recently increased state police enforcement and signage to reduce improper lane use by large trucks.

Committee members also asked whether federal grant awards were at risk under an executive pause on some federal funding. Alvedi said DOT and the governor27s office were working with the Federal Highway Administration and the congressional delegation to press for release of the awards and that DOT had submitted formal requests to FHWA and USDOT to keep the Washington Bridge grants active. He added that DOT has multiple funding "plans B and C" and currently has $713,000,000 available between federal awards and state financing.

On the question of why demolition had paused earlier in the process, Alvedi said the contractor paused work to allow the state27s legal team and outside counsel to collect evidence after the governor filed suit; he said that the four-week pause incurred about $700,000 in reimbursable contractor costs for equipment and site maintenance. He said the department asked the contractor to stop until the evidence-gathering was finished and then reengaged the contractor.

Several members asked about public communication, environmental safeguards and community impacts. Alvedi said the department had increased outreach, was providing monthly reports to the legislature and had assigned community liaisons and environmental monitoring (including air and turbidity monitoring) in coordination with Coastal Resources Management Council and Department of Environmental Management.

The hearing did not include committee votes on legislation; at the session27s end, Senator McKinney moved to adjourn and Representative Vitello seconded. The chair declared the meeting adjourned.

Provenance: committee members questioned DOT on procurement, funding and monitoring during the joint House and Senate oversight hearing that began with Senator Mark McKinney27s opening remarks about oversight and litigation and concluded with the adjournment motion by Senator McKinney and second by Representative Vitello.