The meeting at the Statehouse gave legislators an opportunity to share the frustration of constituents dealing with traffic congestion and longer commutes, even if the central question about the bridge crisis still remains unanswered for now.
“How could this become so critical, so quickly?” asked state Rep. Julie Casimiro (D-North Kingstown), referring to how the bridge passed an inspection last summer and then was abruptly closed on an emergency basis in mid-December.
Peter Alviti, director of the state Department of Transportation, repeated what state officials have been saying for weeks: the answer will not be known until later this month or in March, when additional engineering information becomes available about the structure.
“Those are the answers that we’re asking for in the forensic analyses that are taking place,” Alviti said.
The Washington Bridge was built in 1968, and Aliviti said it is the only bridge in the state with an unusual cantilevered design.
Alviti, one of the longest-serving department directors in state government, apologized for problems caused by the closing of the westbound Washington Bridge “that I am truly sorry for, I accept responsibility for this. I’m at the top of DOT.”
Alviti also called the situation, which has periodically snarled traffic and lengthened commuting times, an anomaly amid RIDOT’s progress in improving hundreds of deficient bridges across the state.
“We’re working. We’re working every day to get people’s lives back to where they used to be — that’s the mission,” he said.
But Rep. Jon Brien (I-Woonsocket) said it damaged the credibility of elected officials in the state when Gov. Dan McKee used one interview to say bridge problems lengthened commutes by only 10 or 15 minutes.
Joseph Almond, a top aide to McKee, acknowledged that commutes have been affected more seriously in many cases.
“I’m from North Kingstown — this affects my constituents daily, whether it’s their business or their commute to work,” Casimiro said. “My sister lives in Cowesett. It’s doubled her drive time to East Providence, so this does affect the entire state, not just the East Bay, and I want to make sure we’re clear with that.”
Sen. Dawn Euer (D-Newport) asked if anything can be done to address the traffic problems related to the bridge.
Alviti responded by saying DOT is trying to make things smoother through traffic engineering.
Rep. Lauren Carson (D-Newport) asked how DOT is managing amid union officials’ description of a toxic work climate, as The Boston Globe reported, and with seven separate firms working on the Washington Bridge project.
Alviti said DOT is delivering projects on-time and on-budget, and he said that wouldn’t be possible if the climate was as bad as described by a small band of critics.
During an opening statement in which he outlined DOT’s efforts to improve bridges as part of the Raimondo-era RhodeWorks program, Alviti defended himself.
“I was the one who rang the bell eight years ago that we had a hell of a problem we needed to fix, and working with all of you, we did. We put a fix in place.”
Alviti said Rhode Island still has ways to go, but that the percentage of structurally deficient bridges in the state has been reduced from 27% to 14%.